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A HISTORY OF ROME 




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HISTORY OF ROME 



FOR 



High Schools and Academies 



BY 



GEORGE WILLIS BOTSFORD, Ph.D. 

li 

INSTRUCTOR IN THE HISTORY OF GREECE AND ROME IN HARVARD 

UNIVERSITY; AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF GREECE" ATiD 

" THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATHENIAN 

CONSTITUTION " 



WITH MAPS AND NUMEROrS ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
19OI 

All rights reserved 



vJopu (^ 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Receiveo 

MAR. 29 1901 

COPymOHT ENTRy 

CLASS «/XXc. No. 

eopY A. 






Copyright, 1901, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Xorfajooli IBtess 

J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

This volume owes its existence chiefly to encouragement 
from teachers who are using my "History of Greece," and 
who desire a history of Rome on a similar plan. If the 
book meets the expectations of those who are waiting for 
it, the reason will be that friends have devoted valuable 
time and experience to its improvement. Mr. Charles 
Lane Hanson of the Mechanic Arts High School, Boston, 
to whom the success of the " History of Greece " is largely 
due, has given me the same efficient aid in the present 
work. Mr. S. Percy R. Chadwick of Brewster Free Acad- 
emy has contributed suggestions based on tests made in the 
class-room. Various improvements have resulted from the 
reading of the proofs by Professor Egbert of Columbia 
University. The chapters on the later empire have been 
revised in the proofs by Professor Burr of Cornell Univer- 
sity, to whose scholarship important corrections are due. 
Miss Emily F. Paine of Miss Spence's School, New York, 
has helped select the illustrations, and has given me useful 
notes on Roman art. My wife has worked with me on the 
maps, the Index, and all other parts of the book. To all 
these friends I am sincerely grateful. It would be unjust, 
however, to hold any of them responsible for faults which 
may still remain in the work. I wish also to thank the 
President of The Macmillan Co. for his kind interest in the 



vi Ack7iowledgment 

book, Messrs. Bormay and Co. for their excellent work on 
the maps, and Messrs. J. S. Gushing and Co. for their 
patient care in the printing. 

In the quotation of ancient authors I have followed, as 
closely as my plan would admit, the translators recom- 
mended in the Bibliography at the close of the volume. 
The maps and pictures, with the exception of nine from 
books, to which credit is given in the list of illustrations, 
have been prepared for this history. Three Etruscan sub- 
jects are from photographs in the Fogg Art Museum ; the 
original of the "^dile" belongs to the Department of 
Classics of Harvard University. Miss Paine furnished about 
twenty subjects from her private collection, and the remain- 
der I purchased abroad. 



PURPOSE 

This book is similar in plan to the ''History of Greece." 
It aims to present briefly the growth of Rome, the expan- 
sion and organization of her power, the development and 
decline of the imperial system, and the transformation of 
the ancient pagan empire of the Romans into the mediaeval 
Christian empire of the Germans. The narrative, accord- 
ingly, extends from the earliest times to Charlemagne. 

The treatment of the early constitution rests directly 
upon the sources, which uniformly represent the plebeians 
as citizens and the patricians as their leaders. I have 
avoided mentioning the " concilium tributum plebis," as I 
see no reason for believing that it ever had more than a 
theoretical existence. The view of the constitution which 
this volume presents, and to which scholars are now return- 
ing, is as simple and natural as it is well founded. 

Emphasis is placed on the period of the emperors as the 
time during which Rome stamped her character upon the 
history of the world. Attention is directed not so much 
to the vices and intrigues of the imperial court as to the 
progress of mankind both in the capital and in the prov- 
inces. Wars are treated with reference to their influence 
on the current of history, and for the illustration of indi- 
vidual and national character. The admirer of Rome need 
not glorify conquest or conceal in any degree the failure 

vii 



viii PiLVpose 

of the republic to govern the provinces. Happily the 
Romans represented something better than city-sacking 
and oppression. As organizers, administrators, and builders 
they were greater in peace than in war. 

The pupil who wishes to digest thoroughly the contents- 
of this book is advised to use the "Helps" on pages 353- 
381 ; while reading a chapter he should work out the 
"Studies" which belong to it, and analyze the principal 
subjects in topical outlines like the one given near the end 
of the volume. In tracing the history of persons or of insti- 
tutions he will find the Index useful. He ought not to 
content himself with one book, however, but should read 
and compare as many authorities as possible. Studied in 
this way, history trains the whole mind. 

Cambridge, March i, 1901. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

FAGB 

The People and the Country ....... i 

CHAPTER n 
The Beginnings of Rome — The Prehistoric Age . . -17 

CHAPTER in 

Rome becomes Supreme in Italy. First Period of the Republic — 

External History ........ 38 

CHAPTER IV 

The Plebeians win their Rights. First Period of the Republic — 

Internal History ......... 66 

CHAPTER V 

The Expansion of the Roman Power. Second Period of the 

Republic — External History ...... 95 

CHAPTER VI 

The Growth of Plutocracy. Second Period of the Republic — 

Internal History . . . . . . . . .129 

CHAPTER VII 

The Revolution — (I) From Plutocracy to Militarism . . . 151 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Revolution — (II) The Military Power in Conflict with the 

Republic , . . . . . . . . • ^75 

ix 



Contents 



CHAPTER IX 

The Founding of the Imperial Government. The Dyarchy- 
The Julian Emperors ....... 



204 



CHAPTER X 

From Dyarchy to Monarchy — The Claudian and Flavian Em- 



perors 



225 



CHAPTER XI 
The Limited Monarchy — The Five Good Emperors 



243 



CHAPTER XII 

The Growth of Absolute Monarchy — From Commodus to Con- 

stantine 267 

CHAPTER XIII 

The Invasions of the Barbarians and the Fall of the Empire in 

the West ' . ' 289 

CHAPTER XIV 

The New German States and the Empire of Charlemagne . -311 



CHAPTER XV 

The Private and Social Life of the Romans . 



335 



CHAPTER XVI 



Helps to the Study of Roman History . 


• 353 


Example of a Topical Outline 


• 353 


Studies 


• 359 


Events in Chronological Order 


. . . 366 


Bibliography 


. 374 


Index .... i ... . 


. . . 383 



MAPS AN.D ILLUSTRATIONS 



COLORED MAPS 



PAGE 
I 



Italy before the Punic Wars — For Chapters I-IV . before 

The Vicinity of Rome — For Chapters I-IV . . "41 

The Expansion of the Roman Power to the Time of the Gracchi 

— For Chapters V, VI , . , . . . before 95 

The Expansion of the Roman Power from the Gracchi to the 

Death of Augustus — For Chapters VII-IX . . before 129 

The Roman Empire from Augustus to Diocletian — For Chapters 

X-XII before 225 

The Roman Empire under Diocletian and Constantine — For 

Chapters XII, XIII before 281 

Charlemagne's Empire (From Adams, European History^ — For 

Chapter XIV before 311 



MAPS IN THE TEXT 



The Tribes of Italy and Sicily 

Early Rome .... 

Colonies and Military Roads of Italy 

Imperial Rome .... 

The Sacred Way .... 

Europe about 525 a.d. (From Adams, Etiropean History) 



5 

35 
64 

213 

234 

314 



FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 



A Part of the Roman Forum (restored) . . . Frontispiece 

The Fall of the Anio facing 

The Temple of Castor and Pollux .... " 

The Appian Way " 

Mounte Ercte . " 

A Roman Fleet in Harbor (Froni Rhcinhard, Album) . " 

Capri .......... *' 

The Hall of the Emperors " 

3d 



3 

42 

57 

lOI 

197 

221 

309 



Xll 



Maps and IlliLStrations 



Church of San Apollinare Nuovo 

A Bridge over the Anio 

Baia; ...... 



PAGE 

facing 313 
319 

346 



Huts 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 

An Etruscan Tomb 

Temple of Vesta and of the Sibyl 

An Etruscan War God 

An Etruscan Vase 

A Doric Temple . 

Grotto of the Sibyl 

A Chimera . 

Cinerary Urns representing Primitive Roman 

Household Gods . 

Minerva . ... 

A Vestal \'irgin . 
The Wall of Servius 
Cloaca Maxima . 
Lucius Junius Brutus . 
A Roman Helmet 
A Proconsul 

Curule Chair and Fasces (From Schreiber, 
"Ceres (restored from a Juno — Hera) . 
An As (From Hill, Greek and Roman Coin 
Apollo with a Lyre .... 

^sculapius . . . 

A Denarius (From Hill, Greek a>id Roman 

Venus ....... 

INIessana ...... 

" Hannibal ".....' 

"Marcellus" 

A Scene in Macedonia 

A Galatian and his Wife 

Storming a City (From Rheinhard, Alhti?7i) 

A Street in Pompeii .... 

^dile 

" Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus" , 
Sacrificing a Pig ..... 
A Bacchante ..... 

Italian Oxen = , . . . 



Atlas) 



Coins') 



I 

7 

8 

10 

II 

12 

17 

20 

23 

27 

28 

30 
32 

38 
46 

54 
67 

74 

83 

85 

'^1 
90 

91 

95 
106 
112 
117 
119 

125 

129 

139 
142 

145 
149 

151 



Maps and Illustrations 



xiu 



Atlas) 



and 



Candl 



An Old Shepherdess ..... 

Youth reading at a Book-case (From Schreiber, 
An Old Fisherman ..... 

Roman Soldiers marching (From^heinhard, Albuni) 

" Sulla " 

Pompey the Great 

Cicero . 

Julius Ctesar 

Cleopatra 

The Pantheon 

Augustus 

The Temple of Mars the Avenger 

Julia, Daughter of Augustus, and her suns, Gaius 

Tiberius ....... 

The Palace of Caligula .... 

Claudius ....... 

Agrippina, Mother of Nero .... 

A Triumphal Procession with the Seven Golden 
The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre 
A Body found at Pompeii .... 

"Seneca" ....... 

Nerva . ' . 

The Column of Trajan . . .- . 

Plotina, Wife of Trajan .... 

The Mausoleum of Hadrian 

A Roman Bridge ...... 

Marcus Aurelius in his Triumphal Car . 
Roman Baths ...... 

The Triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus . 
Septimius Severus ..... 

Sarcophagus of Alexander Severus and his Moth^ 
The Wall of Aurelian ..... 

A Capital from One of the Temples in Palmyra 

Temple of the Sun 

The Basilica of Constantine .... 

The Triumphal Arch of Constantine 

The Roman Forum . . 

A German Village (From Adams, Eia-opraii His 

The Baptism of Christ ..... 

The Good Shepherd ..... 

The Mausoleum of Galla Placid ia 



Lucius 



estick 



tory) 



156 
160 
165 
170 
172 
176 
181 
190 
198 
204 
206 
212 
217 
219 
222 
225 
228 
232 
236 

241 
244 
246 
250 

259 
261 
265 
267 
269 
273 

275 
277 

279 
284 
287 
289 

294 
296 
301 
304 



xiv Maps and IlliLstratioiis 

PAGE 

Palace of Theodoric . . . . . . . . .311 

Cathedral of St. Sophia . . . . . . . '317 

The Iron Crown of Lombardy . . . . . . , 329 

Persian Warriors .......... 333 

A Roman and his Wife ........ 335 

A Fountain ........... 337 

House Furniture (From Rheinhard, Alburn^ .... 339 

Peristyle of a House in Pompeii ....... 341 

A Well-curb .......... 343 

A Roman Meal (From Rheinhard, Album) .... 345 

A Cinerary Urn .......... 348 

The Boy Hercules ......... 350 



A HISTORY OF ROME 




The Fall of the Anio 

(Tibur.) , 



The Sabelliajts 3 

they were free, and in war they wilHngly followed the 
chief of their choice. Their constant struggle with the 
forces of nature, with savage beasts and bold enemies, 
made them grave, stern, and intensely rehgious. 

The Sabellians did not form one state in the modern Sabeiiian 
sense, but each mountain valley or plateau was the abode ^°^ ^^ 
of a tribe with its own independent government. All the 
common warriors of the tribe gathered in an assembly to Cf. the Ger- 
elect their chief, and under his presidency, to vote on ^ ' r^ 
important questions, as of war and peace. A few of the 
old men, who in youth had been most valiant, or to whom 
age had brought most wisdom, met in a senate, or council 
of elders, to advise and assist the chief in his duties, and 
especially to point out to him the will of the gods and 
the means of securing their favor. These were the earliest 
political institutions of the Sabellians, and in fact of all 
the Italians, — the crude elements from which the Roman P. 24 ff. 
constitution was to grow. 

As the Sabellians were fond of war, the little communi- The Sacred 
ties were constantly fighting with one another. The war- 
riors enjoyed nothing so much as raiding an adjoining 
tribe, driving off the cattle, and bringing captive young 
women home as their wives. When, on the other hand, Strabo v. 
a people became so numerous that the land no longer '^' ^^' 
supported them, or when drouth threatened them with 
famine, they resorted to a custom known as the Sacred 
Spring, — that is, they dedicated all the products of a 
particular spring to some deity, usually Mars, god of war. 
The cattle and the fruit of the consecrated season they 
offered in sacrifice to the god; the sons born during that 
time, on attaining manhood, dismissed by their parents 
with appropriate ceremonies, wandered away under the 
protection of the god to whom they were devoted ; and 



TJie People and the Coimtry 



The Sabel 
lians are 
colonists 



P. 49. 



guided by a sacred bird or beast, — a woodpecker, a wolf, 
or perhaps a bull, — sought a place suitable for a colony. 
This they seized, killing, driving out or enslaving the 
earlier inhabitants. Thus the Sabellians constantly won 
new territory. 

The parent stock of this race is said to have been the 
Sabines, in the mountains near the centre of the peninsula, 
from sabina. During one sacred spring they sent forth a host of youths, 
who occupied the vast mountainous region known as Sam- 
nium, a country famous in Italian history. In like manner 
the jNIarsians — sons of Mars — setting out from Sabina, set- 
tled nearer the mother country. Other emigrants from the 
same home are said to have followed a woodpecker — piciis — 
to the northeast, where they occupied the country between 
the mountains and the sea and called themselves Picen- 
tians after their sacred guide. In time the many colonies of 
the Sabellians covered the high ranges and the eastern slopes 
of central Italy. Bold and restless, they threatened to over- 
run even the west and the extreme south of the peninsula. 

From the Umbrians, their kinsmen on the north, they 
had nothing to fear. For these people were somewhat 
more civilized and consequently more attached to their 
homes than their southern neighbors. As the Umbrians 
were weak, too, from lack of union among themselves, 
they gradually yielded ground to the vigorous, intelligent 
Etruscans, who pressed upon their northern and .western 
borders. It was rather in Latium, a small country on the 
western coast, that the Sabellians were to find their mortal 
foes. This was a flat district about the lower Tiber, extend- 
ing thence to the southeast, between the mountains and the 
sea, as far perhaps as Tarracina. Here dwelt the Latins, 
an Italian tribe related to the Umbrians and the Sabellians. 
On account of their fertile fields near the coast, they grew 



The Umbri 

ans. 



P. 8 f. 
The Latins. 



TJie Latins 



5 



more wealthy and more refined than their kinsmen in the 
interior. As far back as our record goes, the mountaineers 
were fighting the men of the plain ; in time their petty wars 
were to culminate in a long, fierce struggle between the 




ENGRAVLD BY BoRMAY & CO., N.Y. 



Latins and the Samnites for the control of Italy. For cen- Pp. 40, 51. 
turies the chief interest in Italian history centres in this 
great contest between the civilized people of the ])hiin and 
the barbarians in the mountains. 



TJie People and the Country 



The city- 
state. 



P. 8 ff. 



Botsford, 
Greece, pp, 
20 f, 297. 



Cities of 
Latium. 



Map, p. 41. 

Dionysius 1. 
66 ; Strabo v. 
3. 13- 



Originally all the Italians had the same customs and fol- 
lowed the same modes of life. In the earliest times they 
built no cities, but grouped their huts in small villages. As 
there was constant danger from invading enemies, neighbor- 
ing villages joined in fortifying some convenient hilltop with 
a wall of earth or of rough stones. To this refuge the vil- 
lagers fled on the approach of an enemy. Here, too, they 
met to hold religious festivals and to talk with one another 
on matters of common interest. As they came in time to 
have a chief, a senate, and an assembly of their own, they 
began to pay less heed to the tribe of which they formed a 
part. Finally when, under favorable conditions, the leading 
men of the villages had acquired considerable property and 
had learned from foreigners the advantages of good houses 
and of settled homes, they took up their abode within the 
wall on the hilltop. The city which thus grew up within 
the tribe enjoyed complete independence. We call it the 
city-state to distinguish it from the earlier tribal state based 
on the bond of blood and from the territorial state of the 
present day. 

While the Sabellians and most of the Umbrians continued 
to live in villages, cities were growing up in Latium, gener- 
ally on the spurs of the mountains which bordered the plain. 
Prominent among them was Alba Longa, on a long ridge, 
high above the sea level. On one side of the city towered 
the Alban Mount ; on the other was a lake in the crater of 
an extinct volcano. Mountain and lake helped defend the 
city from enemies ; the slopes and plains below were beauti- 
ful to the eye and rich in the produce of all sorts of fruit. 
In this city thirty Latin communities held an annual festival, 
in which they sacrificed an ox to Jupiter, their chief deity. 
In brief. Alba Longa was head of the Latin League. Set- 
ting out from Alba to the northeast, we soon come to Prae- 



TJie Greeks in Italy 1 1 

It was destined, however, that as teachers of the ItaUans, The Greeks 
the Etruscans should in the end be outrivalled by the more ^^ ^' 
virile Greeks, who about the middle of the eighth century 
B.C. began to settle the shores of southern Italy and of 
Sicily. Beneath a sunny sky they found fields of verdure 
sprinkled with gayly colored flowers — a delightful contrast 




A Doric Temple 

(Metapontum, Southern Italy.) 

to the stony soil and naked hills of the mother country. 
Their thriving colonies soon lined the Itahan coast from 
Dorian Tarentum on the southeast to Chalcidian Cumae 
on the west. With them came the gods of Greece, who 
demanded of their worshippers athletic contests, graceful 
processions, the song and the dance, beautiful statues and Magna 
temples. While agriculture, commerce, and skilled indus- j^^^ ^ , 
try flourished in " Great Greece," as these collective settle- Greece, pp. 
ments were called, philosophy and codes of law were the 3° ^' ^^ ^' 



Cumae. 



12 



The People mid the Country 



best intellectual products. In the arts of peace and war 
the Greeks were teachers of the natives, and found in the 
Latins their aptest pupils. 

The centre from which Greek culture extended to Latium 
was Cumse, mentioned above, reputed the oldest Greek 
colony in Italy. It was in a region of volcanoes which 




Grotto of the Sibyl 

(Cumae.) 



Vergil, 
/Eneid, vi. 
237. 



suggested the presence of supernatural powers. In the 
neighborhood was a cave with a hundred mouths, the abode 
of the Sibyl, Apollo's prophetess, who wrote her oracles on 
leaves. Near by was another cave deep and hideous, over 
which no birds were able to wing their way unhurt because 
of the vapors issuing from its grim jaws. This men believed 



Forui of Italy 13 

to be the gate to the realm of Hades. From the city, so 
rich in local myths, the worship of Apollo and the mys- 
terious art of writing connected with it, made their way 
to Latium and to Rome. The traveller, standing on the 
acropolis of Cumse, now sees about liim nothing but vine- 
yards, which hide the ruins of her theatre and her walls ; 
but before she perished the light of her civilization had 
accompanied Apollo to Rome. 

The Italians, the Etruscans, and the Greeks were the Summary of 
chief peoples of Italy. Next in importance were the Gauls, ^^®''^*^®^- 
who toward the end of the sixth century B.C. began to cross 
the Alps and to settle in the valley of the Po. Other races 
of still less importance need not concern us here.^ From 
the mingling of these various peoples time was to bring forth 
a strong, energetic nation. 

One reason for the political union of so many diverse Italy is long 
peoples was that the character and situation of the country ^°^^^"'0"^- 
exposed it to attack on all sides. Largely a peninsula, Italy 
is extremely long in proportion to its breadth ; and near it 
in every direction are foreign lands, from which enemies 
can easily come. The Alps, those icy giants marshalled 
for the protection of the northern border, have often failed 
in their duty, and the surrounding seas have been the highway 
of the invader. Feeling the weakness of her position, Italy Political re- 
overcame it by union under Rome, her strongest city. The 
same geographical conditions explain another fact : even 
when united, the country was unsafe while the neighboring 
nations remained free to assail it ; and thus it was that 
motives of self-preservation forced Rome, as the head of P. 97. 
the peninsula, into her career of foreign conquest. 

^ There were the Tapygians in tlie lieel of the peninsula, the Vene- 
tians, their kinsmen, at the head of the AcUiatic Sea, and the Ligurians 
in the west of Italy opposite N'enetia, 



y 



14 The People and the Country 

Italy faces Looking at a map of the country, we see that mountain 

^^^^ • ranges — the Apennines — extending through the whole 
length of the peninsula, lie for the most part near the eastern 
shore. This makes the eastern slopes abrupt, the rivers 
short, the coast rarely broken by harbors. On the west the 
slopes are more gentle, terminating in broad, fertile plains 
traversed by navigable rivers and well supplied with bays. 
In brief, the country is closed to the East and open to the 
West. Turning her back upon the East with its luxury, its 
vice, and its decaying life, Italy faced the fresh vital nations 
of the West, and found her chief interest in giving them her 
institutions. It was from contact with the civilizing influence 
of Rome that the vigorous races of central and western 
Europe developed into modern nations. There is reason, 
then, for looking upon the Romans as the last of the ancients 
and the first of the moderns. 

Great variety In addition to these far-reaching political effects, the 

and soil Apennines have always promoted the well-being and happi- 

ness of Italian life ; for in every section of the peninsula the 
people enjoy the products, the climate, and the scenery of 
the mountains as well as of the plains on the seaside. It is 

Duruy, " a land of continual contrasts : plains and mountains, snow 

c;;?.?, 1. p. 37. ^^^ scorching heat, dry gorges and raging torrents, limpid 
lakes formed in ancient craters, and pestilential marshes 
concealing beneath the herbage once populous cities. At 
every step a contrast : the vegetation of Africa at the foot 
of the Apennines ; on their summits the vegetation of the 
North. Here, under the clear sky, the malaria, bringing 
death in one night to the sleeping traveller ; there, lands of 
inexhaustible fertility, and above, the volcano with its 
threatening lava. . . . every climate, every property of the 
soil combined, — in short, a reduced picture of the ancient 
world." 



The Best Country in the Ancient World 15 

" In my opinion," says an ancient Greek writer on Roman The best 
history, " Italy surpasses even such fruitful countries as ^nc^ent^^ 
Egypt and Babylonia ; for I look upon that country as the world, 
best which stands least in need of foreign commodities. 
Now I am persuaded that Italy enjoys this universal fertility 
beyond all other countries of the world. For it contains a Dionysius i. 
great deal of good arable land, without wanting pastures and ^ ^ 
forests, and abounds, I may say, in delights and advantages. 
Unparalleled are the plains of Campania, which yield three 
crops a year, bringing to perfection the winter, summer, 
and autumnal grain ; peerless are the olive grounds of 
the Messapians and the Sabines ; peerless the vineyards 
of Etruria and Alba, where the soil is wonderfully kind to 
vines. Then there are pastures for sheep, goats, horses, 
and neat cattle ; there are the marsh grasses, wet with 
dew, and the meadow grasses of the hills, all growing in 
untilled places. I cannot help admiring the forests full 
of all kinds of trees, which supply timber for ships and 
houses. All these materials are ready at hand, for the coast 
is near, and there are many rivers which water the land and 
make easy the exchange of everything the country produces. 
Hot water springs, also, have been discovered in many 
places, affording pleasant baths and cures for chronic sick- 
ness. There are mines of various sorts, plenty of beasts for 
hunting, and a variety of sea-fish, besides other things innu- 
merable, some useful and others worthy of admiration. 
But the most advantageous of all is the happy temper of 
the air, suiting itself to every season. So that neither the for- 
mation of fruits nor the constitution of animals is in the least 
injured by excessive cold or heat. No wonder, then, that 
the ancients, seeing this country abounding with universal 
plenty, dedicated the mountains and woods to Pan ; the 
meadows and green lawns to the nymphs; the shores and 



1 6 Tke People and the Countiy 

islands to the sea-gods ; and every delightful place to its 
appropriate deity ! " 

Sources 

Reading. Modern maps, geographies, and books of travel, An ancient source 

for the country and its people is Strabo, Geography, v, vi. Dionysius 
of Halicarnassus, roniaii Antiquities, i, gives much interesting infor- 
mation concerning the early races and their mythical history. Much, 
too, may be gathered from brief references in various ancient writing-. 
Cf. Botsford, The Story of Rome as Greeks and Romans tell it, ch, i 
(a book of descriptive and narrative sources). 

Modern Works 

(i) Geography: How and Leigh, History of Rome, ch. i; Shuck- 
burgh, History of Rome, ch. ii ; Duruy, History of Rome, i, pp. 17-43 ; 
Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, text and atlas (valuable 
for the expansion of the Roman power) ; Tozer, Classical Geography 
(primer) ; History of Ancient Geography, chs. xi-xvi ; Kiepert, Manual 
of Ancient Geography. 

(2) Archaeology, Art, and Guide-books: Lanciani, Rttins ami 
Excavations of Ancient Rome (useful); Ancient Rome in the Light of 
Recent Discovei'ies ; Pagan and Christian Rome ; Destruction of 
Ancient Rome ; Middleton, Remaijts of Ancient Rome, 2 vols, ; 
Boissier, Rome and Pompeii ; Dyer, The City of Rome, its Vicissi- 
tudes and Monuments from its E^oundation to the End of the Middle 
Ages; YxQQvadiX\, Historical Essays, \\'. Primseval Archaeology of Rome ; 
Durm, Baukunst der Router ; Choisy, HArt de Bdtir chez les Romains ; 
Arndt, Denkmaler der griechischen und romischen Sculptur (valuable 
for the plates, but expensive); Wickhofif, Roman Art : Some of its 
Principles and their Application to Early Christian Painting ; Reber, 
History of And ejit Art : Elruria and Rome ; Burn, Roman Literature 
in Relation to Roman Art ; Crawford, Ave Roma Immortalis, 2 vols. ; 
Dennie, Rome of To-day and Yesterday ; Forbes, Rambles in Rome ; 
Hare, Walks in Rome, 2 vols. ; Days near Rome, 2 vols. ; Baedeker, 
N^orthern Ltaly ; Central Ltaly ; Southerji Ltaly. 

(3) The People : Shuckburgh, ch. iii ; How and Leigh, ch. ii ; 
Mommsen, History of Rome, bk. L chs. i-iii ; Duruy, i. pp. 44-135 ; 
Nissen, Ltalische Landeskunde (country and people). 




A Chimera 

(Etruscan Archseological Museum, Florence.) 



CHAPTER II 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME — THE PREHISTORIC AGE 

(to 509 B.C.) 

When the Greeks had taken Troy by means of the 
wooden horse and were slaying the inhabitants, ^neas, 
son of Anchises and of Venus, goddess of love, escaped by 
sea together with many followers. And though the angry 
Juno threatened him with storms and beset his path with 
trials and dangers, his goddess mother guided him safely 
through every peril and brought him after many wanderings 
to a haven on the west coast of fair Italy. There he landed 
and began to build a city. He allied himself with Latinus, 
king of the country, married Lavinia, the king's daughter, 
and named the new city Lavinium, after his bride. 

Trojans and natives lived together in peace, all taking the 
^ 17 



Myth of the 
wanderings 
of ^neas. 



Vergil, 
ALfteid ; Livy 
i, I f; Dio- 
nysius i. 46- 
64; Plutarch, 
Roiijulns. 



i8 



The Begimiijigs of Rome 



Myth of Rom- 
ulus and 
Remus. 



Livy i. 3-8; 
Dionysius i. 
70-84. 



P. 29. 



P. 8. 



Myth of the 
founding of 
Rome, 753 
B.C. (?). 



Livy i. 6-8. 



Criticism of 
the myth. 



name of Latins after their king, who was slain somewhat later 
and was succeeded by ^neas. The next king was Asca- 
nius, son of y^neas, who founded Alba Longa. Many gen- 
erations afterward Amulius wickedly expelled his brother 
Numitor from the kingship and himself usurped the throne. 
He had Numitor's son assassinated and compelled Rhea, 
the daughter, to become a Vestal virgin that she might not 
marry and bring forth an avenger of the family's wrongs. 
However, she bore to Mars, god of war, twin sons of more 
than human size and beauty. Set adrift on the Tiber by 
order of the king, they were cast ashore near Mount Pala- 
tine, and would have perished had not a she-wolf nursed 
them till they were taken up and cared for by a shepherd 
of that region. "When they had grown to manhood, they 
killed Amulius, and restored Numitor, their grandfather, to 
the throne. 

With the king's consent the twin brothers led a colony 
to the place where they had passed their youth ; but they 
quarrelled as to who should be the founder. When they 
scanned the sky for an omen of the divine will, six vultures, 
birds of Jupiter, appeared to Remus, but twelve were seen 
by Romulus, who thereupon founded the city on Mount 
Palatine. This he did by tracing a quadrangular space 
about the hill with a plough drawn by a yoke of cattle. 
Remus, however, in derision, leaped the half-finished wall, 
exclaiming, " Methinks any of your enemies might leap this 
as easily as I do." Then Romulus, or one of his men, 
replying, " But any of us might easily chastise that enemy," 
struck and killed him with a pickaxe. 

Among the many stories of the founding of Rome, this 
is the one which came to be generally believed. The 
Romans wanted to connect their history with that of the 
country from which they had derived their culture ; and 



The Sabine Womeji 19 

the active imagination of the Greeks readily suppUed the 
need by the myth as told above. In fact no one knows by 
whom or under what circumstances Rome was founded. 
It was not, however, a colony of Alba Longa, but merely p. 6. 
one of several Latin towns. The traditional date of found- 
ing, 753 B.C., is also a fiction. 

When Romulus had founded Rome, as the myth asserts, Myth of the 
he became the first king of the city, and gave his people ^^^^^^ 
laws and a constitution. In the original settlement few 
women had taken part; the men therefore were anxious Livy 1,9; Plu- 
to secure wives from the surrounding communities. Romu- ^^^'^ ' S'^^' 

_ lus, 14 ft. 

lus accordingly exhibited games, to which many neighbors, 
including the Sabines, came by invitation. Now while they 
were watching the games, at a given signal the Romans 
rushed upon the Sabines and seizing their daughters carried 
them off as wives, each bringing one to his own home. To 
avenge this wrong, Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, marched 
with his army against Rome, and joined battle with Romulus 
in the valley below the Palatine afterward occupied by the 
Forum, or market-place. During a pause in the fray the 
captive daughters of the Sabines, rushing between their 
fathers and their husbands, entreated them to cease from 
war and be forever friends. Their prayers prevailed ; and 
though the Sabines dwelt henceforth on the Quirinal Hill, 
north of the Palatine, they came under one government 
with the Romans, and were ruled conjointly by Romulus 
and Tatius. This dual reign lasted till the death of the 
Sabine restored the whole power to the original Roman 
king. 

The first part of this myth is an attempt to explain the Criticism of 
origin of marriage by capture, a custom older than Rome ^"^ 
and prevalent in many countries besides Italy ; the second 
part refers to an historical event, — the union of the Latin 



20 



The Beginnings of Rome 



community on the Palatine with a later, possibly Sabine, 
community on the Quirinal. This union greatly increased 
the area and population of the city. While Rome was 
growing on the hills, she was extending her territory in the 
Myth of Tui- plains at her feet. In myth, TuUus Hostilius, the third 
and^f A^^^^^ king, conquered and destroyed i\lba Longa, annexed her 
Martius. territory, and removed the people to Rome, where he set- 

tled them on the C?ehan Hill. Following the example of 





, 1 


^ -^'^^^^H 






^^H 


PIP^^^^^^^^^H^^;|^^^HMpP 19 


" *SS*B*,,^«^ __ 




^^^^^ JhbHk. 




■^^^4 



Cinerary Urns Representing Primotve Roman Huts 

(Vatican Museum ; found in the ancient cemetery at Alba Longa.) 



Cicero, Re- 
public, ii. 
17 f ; Livy i. 
22-35. 



Criticism of 
the myths. 



Romulus he admitted the Alban commons to citizenship 
and enrolled the leading men among the nobles. Ancus 
Martius, the fourth king, still further enlarged the Roman 
domain, founded Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, to 
be a seaport to his city, and fortified Mount Janiculum, 
across the Tiber, as an outpost against the Etruscans. 
Though all the kings are probably mythical, the stories, 
however misleading in detail, indicate in a general way 



Early Life on tJic Palatine 21 

the manner in which Rome grew and the character of her 
institutions. 

The earhest dwellers on the Palatine lived in rude wooden Early life on 
houses covered with straw, each containing a single room. ^ ^ ^ atine. 
They used flint, bone, and bronze tools and weapons, and 
ate from coarse earthenware dishes. The wealthier families 
built more substantial dwellings and imported finer ware Lanciani, 
from Etruria. Adjoining each hut were a garden and a ^'^'^"^ "^^ 

Excavations, 

sheepfold, to which in the evening the shepherd drove his p, no ff. 

little flock through the Gate of Bellowing — Porta Mugonia 

— from the pasture-lands outside the city ; in the evening 

the peasants whose farms were near returned home from 

their labors in the fields below, for no one wished to pass 

the night in the unhealthful plains ; and maidens brought 

on their heads jars of fresh water from the springs in the 

valley below the Porta Romanula. With the human inmates 

of the house abode the spirits of the hearth and pantry, and 

in the temples men worshipped gods who had no images. 

Such was the simple life of early Rome. 

Gradually the population outgrew the space within the Growth of the 
Palatine walls, and several suburbs sprang up in the vicin- " ^' 
ity. Then the king took possession of the CapitoHne Liwi. 9-14. 
Mount and estabhshed his citadel on its northern summit. 
A reason for the growth of the city may be found in the fact 
that the Romans welcomed strangers and freely bestowed 
the citizenship, as it increased their military strength in the 
wars they were constantly waging with their neighbors. 
Their force was perhaps nearly doubled by their union with 
the community on the Quirinal referred to in the myth 
above. We shall now see how the people lived in the city 
thus enlarged. 

As Rome was well situated for small trade with the Etrus- 
cans and other neighbors, some of the citizens engaged in 



22 



The Beginnings of Rome 



The occupa- 
tions and the 
character of 
the Romans. 

Plutarch, 

Nitma, 17. 



P. 40 f. 



Livy i. 58. 

The family. 

P. 335- 

Dionysius ii. 
24-27. 



making wares and in buying and selling. From early times 
there were, accordingly, guilds of coppersmiths, goldsmiths, 
dyers, curriers, and others, each with its patron god and 
place of assembly. Myth ascribes the founding of these 
societies to Numa, successor of Romulus. Most of the 
Romans, however, were peasants. The farmer, clad simply 
in a woollen tunic, or shirt, which reached the knee, fol- 
lowed his bronze-shod plough drawn by a yoke of cattle. 
His narrow mind held only sober, practical ideas ; for he 
saw nothing of the world beyond the mountains bordering 
the plain of the Tiber, — mountains which inspired him 
wdth no love of the beautiful and the grand, but rather with 
a feeling of hatred for the enemies who were wont to sweep 
down from them upon his little field. His laborious life, his 
warfare against famine, pestilence, and neighbors who were 
always harassing made him stern and harsh, and even in his 
dealing with the gods, calculating and illiberal. Though 
love, pity, and benevolence found little place in his heart, 
he was strong in the more heroic i-irtues, — he was digni- 
fied, brave, and energetic ; he reverenced the gods and 
the forefathers, and obeyed the laws ; above all, he was 
a man of his word. With these great qualities, his high- 
est aspiration was to be a good ploughman ; the chaste 
Lucretia spinning wool till late at night was his ideal 
woman. 

The simplicity and severity of Roman character found 
expression in the family. ]\Iarriage was a religious act 
which made the home sacred, the house a holy place. 
Within lived Vesta, whose altar was the hearth ; within 
were the spirits of the ancestors, who, in the form of Lares, 
guarded the house from every harm ; within, too, were the 
Penates, who blessed the family store. Of these home 
deities Horace wrote : — 



The Household Gods 



23 




Household Gods 

(In a house at Pompeii.) 

" Thy little gods for humbler tribute call 

Than blood of many victims; twine for them 
Of rosemary a simple coronal, 

And the lush myrtle's frail and fragrant stem. 

The costliest sacrifice that wealth can make 
From the incensed Penates less commands 

A soft response, than doth the poorest cake, 
If on the altar laid with spotless hands." 



Horace, 
Odes, iii, 23. 



The father was priest of these gods, owner of the estate, 
and master of his wife and children through life. He could 
load his son with chains, sell him into slavery, or put him to 
death. Even if the son were a senator or magistrate, the 
father could drag him home and punish him for miscon- 
duct. Although before inflicting the death penalty the law P. 338. 
compelled him to consult the kinsmen, he was not bound by 
their advice. Women were always under guardianship, the 



24 



TJie Beginnings of Rome 



The curia. 



Dionysius ii. 
7- 



Dionysius ii. 
23- 

The tribes — 
Ramnes, Ti- 
ties, Luceres. 

.P. 33. 



Social ranks. 

Livy i. 8 ; 
Dionysius ii. 
8-IO. 



P. 76. 

Dionysius ii. 
9-11. 



maiden of her father, the matron of her husband. Never- 
theless they were respected : the wife was a priestess at the 
hearth ; and in case the father left no will, the mother and 
the daughter shared equally with the sons in the inheritance. 
In this strict, moral school, young men were disciplined for 
public life. 

Several famihes united in a curia, or brotherhood. On 
certain festal days the men of a brotherhood ate together 
in a common dining hall containing a sacred hearth, on 
which they kept fire burning perpetually in honor of Juno. 
When war broke out the members of a curia followed their 
leaders to the front, and stood side by side on the field of 
battle. Kinship and rehgion inspired them to deeds of 
daring ; '' the soldier felt ashamed to forsake the comrades 
with whom he had lived in communion of libations, sacri- 
fices, and holy rites." Ten curiae united in a tribe and 
three tribes composed the state. Whatever else the tribes 
might have been, we know at least that they were military 
divisions. It seems probable that in early Rome the com- 
mons of each tribe formed a regiment of foot, and the 
nobles a troop of horse. 

The commons were called plebeians — '' the multitude " 
— and the nobles, patricians. Those families were patrician 
whose fathers were qualified by birth to be senators, magis- 
trates, and priests. In early Rome the barrier between 
the two ranks was not impassable ; with the consent of the 
assembly the king could ennoble any plebeian whom he 
considered sufficiently marked by wealth or personal merit. 
As the patricians alone were acquainted with the laws, 
which were unwritten, the plebeian, to secure protection 
for himself and his family before the courts of law, 
chose a noble as his patron, whom he bound himself to 
serve as a client. Thus many of the plebeians became 



TJie Comitia Cur lata 25 

clients of the patricians. The duty of the patron was to 
give his chents legal advice in their business, to sue for them 
when injured, and to defend them when sued. The chents, 
on the other hand, followed their patron to war and sup- 
ported him in public Hfe, labored in his fields or made him 
presents, that he might fill his offices with becoming dignity. 
It was impious for patron and chent to accuse each other 
in courts of justice or to testify or vote against each other. 
And whoever was convicted of offending against these or- 
dinances was guilty of treason, and might lawfully be put 
to death by any one as a victim devoted to the infernal 
Jupiter. Though the original object of chentage was doubt-* 
less good, we shall see how, after the overthrow of the P. 72f. 
kingship, it became intolerably oppressive. 

When the king wished to consult his people on questions The comitia 
of public interest, his criers went about the city with ox-horns, ^"^^^^^• 
calling them to the comithim, or place of assembly. Here Dionysius ii. 
the curiae met, each in a group by itself, and listened to ^4- 
the proposition of the king with the reasons he might urge 
in its favor. Then, without debate, each curia determined 
whether it would sustain or oppose the king's wish ; and a 
majority of the curiae decided the matter. This assembly 
was called the comitia ciiriata. The king consulted it 
when he wished to begin an aggressive war, to conclude a 
treaty, to change an existing custom, or to undertake any 
other important business. 

To be binding, such a decision of the assembly had to The senate, 
receive the sanction of the senate, — the patnnn auctoritas. Dionysius ii. 
As all, without distinction of rank, had a voice in the comitia, ^^* 
a great majority of that body were necessarily plebeians. 
It was chiefly through the senate, therefore, that the nobles 
exercised their political influence. This body, at first very 
small, gradually grew with the development of the nobility, 



26 



The Beginnings of Rome 



Plutarch, 
Poplicola, II. 



The interrex. 

Livy i. 17. 



The election 
of a king. 



Cicero, Re- 
public, V. 2. 



\ 67. 



till at the close of the regal period it is said to have con- 
tained a hundred and thirty-six members. The king was 
accustomed to ask the advice of the senate on all important 
matters ; and though he was not legally bound by this advice, 
— senatus constcltum, — he generally followed it through 
respect for the nobles and through desire for their support 
and cooperation. 

On the death of a king the senate took entire charge of 
the government ; the senators ruled by turns, each for a 
period of five days, in the order determined by lot. The 
ruler for the time being was termed interrex, and the period 
"between the death of a king and the election of his suc- 
cessor was an interregnum. Although the first interrex was 
not at liberty to nominate a king, probably through respect 
for the dead, the second could do so, or any interrex there- 
after. When the temporary ruler had found a suitable can- 
didate for the office of king, he summoned the comitia 
and called for a vote of the people. In case of an election 
approved by the senate, a resolution of the assembly con- 
ferred upon the new king the imperitcm, which made him 
absolute commander in war and supreme judge with power 
of life and death over his subjects. In addition to these 
duties, he was head of the state rehgion. Ample provision was 
made for his support. '" Fields, woods, pastures, extensive and 
fertile, were allotted to the king and cultivated without labor 
on his part, that anxiety about his private affairs might not 
distract his attention from the duties he owed the people." 
Thus the king, though originally but a citizen, was elevated 
to a place of great dignity and power. Accordingly he 
dressed in an embroidered purple robe and high red shoes, 
and with an eagle-headed sceptre in his hand, sat on an 
ivory throne, or on his judgment seat, the curule chair. In 
his walks he was accompanied by twelve attendants, called 



Religion 



27 



lictors, each bearing an axe bound in a bundle of rods. 
The axes signified his absolute power extending to life and 
death ; perhaps the rods represented the mercy which tem- 
pered his authority. 

Although the king was the only real magistrate, he called 
others to assist him in managing the public property, in 
detecting crimes, and in administering justice. He also 
filled all priestly offices 
and colleges with 
persons agreeable to 
himself. 

As the Romans of 
a later age assigned 
the beginnings of 
their state and con- 
stitution to Romulus, 
their first mythical 
king, they made 
Numa Pompilius, who 
was second in the 
list, author of most 
of their religious in- 
stitutions. Myth rep- 
resents Numa as the 
opposite of Romulus, 
— as a man of peace, 
learned in human and 
divine law, who made 
it the aim of his rule 
*' to bring the hard 
and iron temper of 
the Romans to gentleness and equity." Refraining from war 
throughout his reign, he occupied his time in giving religious 




Minerva 

(Etruscan.) 



The king's 
assistants. 



Religion — 
the mjrth of 
Numa. 



Cicero, Re- 
ptiblic, ii. 13- 
16; Livy i. 
17-21 ; Plu- 
tarch, Ninna. 



28 



TJie Beginnings of Rome 



Li\'A- i. 21. 



Duruy, 

Ro?ne, i. p. 
199; 

Horace, 
Odes, i. 2, 4. 



laws and institutions to his people. These improvements he 
received from his goddess wdfe Egeria, with whom he con- 
versed in a '• grove in the middle of which was a spring of 
li\'ing water, issuing from a dark grotto." Near the comi- 
tium he built a temple to Janus, the double-faced god, who 
blesses the beginnings and ends of actions. The gates of 
his temple were open in war and closed in peace. During 
the reisfn of Xuma thev were shut, but rarelv thereafter in 
the long history of Rome. Besides Janus there are father 
Jove, or Jupiter, the chief guardian of Rome ; Saturn, who 

blesses seed-sowing ; 
" Minerva, who warns 
the husbandmen in time 
of the works to be 
undertaken ; " Mars, 
god of war, "whom din 
delights and gleam of 
burnished helm," to 
whom the woodpecker 
and the wolf are sacred ; 
Juno, wife of Jupiter ; 
Vulcan, who " strikes 
the sparks from the 
forges of the Cyclops 
with reiterated beat;" 
Venus, a garden god- 
dess, afterward identi- 
fied with the Greek 
queen of love ; and a 
host of other deities. 
Every object and every 
act in nature and in human life had a guardian spirit, the 
most important of which the Romans worshipped as gods. 




A Vestal Virgin 

(National Museum, Naples.) 



A New Age 29 

Services of the chief deities were held by priests — flamines, 
plural oi flamen — whose lives were made uncomfortable 
by strict rules goverm'ng every detail of their conduct. In 
the service of the gods they performed intricate rites and 
chanted dry rituals. It is easy to see how this religion 
must have narrowed the mind and fettered the imagination. 

Certain religious duties were the care of groups, or col- Sacred col- 
leges, of sacred persons. Such were the six Vestal virgins, 
who attended to the worship of Vesta and kept the sacred Plutarch, 
fire of the state in her temple. Twelve leapers — Salii — ^uma^^ri. 
of Mars, in purple frocks girt with a broad, bronze-studded 
belt, carried through the streets the sacred shields, upon 
which they clashed their short swords, while they leaped and 
sang to their god. Augurs took the auspices for the king, 
by reading the will of Jupiter in the lightning and in the 
flight of birds ; and the pontiffs, who had charge of all divine 
knowledge, instructed the citizens in worship. 

We have now reviewed the earliest age in Roman history, a new age. 
— represented in myth by the first four kings, — during 
which the city was small and unimportant. But a new era 
already dawning was to bring to Rome fine public buildings, 
massive fortifications, and the headship of Latium. To this 
second era of the kingly period the myth of the Tarquins 
and of Servius Tullius refers. 

While Ancus Martins was king, Lucumo, a Greek by de- Myth of Tar- 
scent but a resident of Tarquinii, a city of Etruria, came with ?^^° ® 
Tanaquil, his wife, to Rome. When they had reached the 
Janiculum, " an eagle sweeping down to him as he sat in his Livy i. 34. 
chariot, took off his cap, and with loud screams, as if she 
had been sent from heaven for the \'ery purpose, replaced 
it carefully on his head." Thereupon Tanaquil, who was 
skilled in omens, bade her husband hope for a high and 
noble fortune. They proceeded to the city, where Lucumo, 



30 



TJie Beginnings of Rome 



taking the name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, — '^ the Elder," 
— by his affable and courteous manners won the favor 
and confidence of all. The people, therefore, elected him 
king after Ancus. He gained famous victories over the 
Sabines and the Latins ; and made a beginning of the great 
public works which his successors carried to completion. 




The Wall of Ser\'ius 



Myth of Ser- 
vius Tullius. 



Livy i. 39. 



Of the king who came after him the following story is 
told. 

x\ strange thing once happened in the house of Tarquin 
the Elder. Several of his household, as they watched Ser- 
vius Tullius. a slave boy, sleeping, saw his head blaze with 
fire. AVhereupon a servant brought water to put out the 
flame. But the queen, preventing him, remarked to her 
husband, " Do you see this boy whom we are rearing in 
so mean a stvle? Be assured that hereafter he will be a 



Tarquiniiis Siiperbus 31 

light to us in our adversity, and a protector to our palace in 
distress." From that time they treated him as their own 
son ; and when he became a man, they gave him their 
daughter in marriage. Tarquin was afterward assassinated 
by shepherds set upon him by the sons of Ancus Martins, 
and Servius Tullius- succeeded to the throne. 

Myth tells us further that Servius built a great wall around 
Rome, reorganized the army, and made his city leader of 
Latium. Such were his magnificent deeds. But the plots Livy i. 46 ff. 
of his wicked daughter, Tullia, embittered his old age ; and 
at last he was openly murdered by her husband, Tarquin the Tarquinius 
Elder's son, who, succeeding to the throne, gained the hate- the^^^proud ' 
ful title of the ''Proud." The younger Tarquin completed 
the public works his father had begun. On these buildings 
he compelled the citizens to labor unrewarded till they 
cursed the tyrant. Another myth connects him with the 
state religion. The Sibyl of Cumse came to him one day 
with nine books of prophecies of Apollo concerning the future 
of Rome. She wished him to buy them, but he objected 
to the price. After she had burned six of them, however, 
curiosity and religious fear led him to pay the original price 
for the remaining three. He placed them in the charge of 
a college of two men of rank, who kept them in a vault be- 
neath the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline, and consulted 
them whenever the state was in especial danger or distress. 

Though the last royal dynasty of Rome was undoubtedly criticism of 
named Tarquin, we do not know how many kings the family *^^ "^yths. 
furnished or whether they were Etruscan or native. Yet 
we may at least find in their story a reflection of the great 
influence which, in this age, the Etruscan civihzation gained 
over Rome. Let us leave the mythical narrative for the 
present, while we try to appreciate the actual achievements 
of this family. 



32 



TJie Beginnings of Rome 



The public 
works of the 
Tarquins. 



Orisrinallv the vallevs amon^ the hills of Rome were 
marshy and often overflowed. The Tarquins drained these 
low grounds by means of arched sewers, some of which 
were so large that a loaded hay-cart could pass through 
them. The most famous of these works was the Cloaca 
Maxima. — '• the greatest sewer," — whfch drained the Fo- 
rum and made the ground about it habitable. The public 
life of the community henceforth centred in this vallev. 




Cloaca iL\xrMA 



The smiths and the shopkeepers set up their stalls around 
the Forum. About it the kings built temples ; and adjoin- 
ing it on the northeast side they made an assembly-place — 
the comitium — in which they built a senate-house. Above 
the Forum, on the Capitoline, they erected a temple to 
Jupiter, Juno, and Minen-a, — usually known as the temple 
of the Capitoline Jupiter. Though in the hea\y Etruscan 
style, it was for centuries the most magnificent building in 



The Primitive Roman Army 33 

Rome. They provided, too, for the amusement of the 
people. The valley between the Palatine and the Aventine 
was a convenient place for races and other games. On the 
sloping hillsides which bounded it one of the Tarquins 
erected wooden seats for the spectators, naming this build- 
ing and enclosure the Circus Maximus. 

As the population had so increased that the old defences The"Waiiof 
of the Palatine and the Capitoline no longer sufficed, they 
included in the city, in addition to these two heights, the 
Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, and Aventine Hills, Liw i. 44. 
— making seven in all, — and surrounded the whole space 
with a huge wall, parts of which remain to this day. Though 
myth makes Servius the builder, a study of the ruins seems 
to show that successive kings had a share in the work. 
Rome was no longer a group of villages, but a great forti- 
fied city. 

Still more important for the future strength of Rome was The primitive 

1 1 • 1 r. • • -1 1 11 1 • 1 • Roman army. 

the new army which bervius is said to have called into being. 
Hitherto the tribes and curiae had furnished their regiments P. 24. 
and companies for war. Each group was a mere crowd of 
men poorly armed and without discipline or tactics. It 
was the same crude military system which we find among p. 295. 
the early Greeks and Germans. The Spartans, however, Botsford, 
perhaps as early as the eighth century B.C., invented the ^"^^^'^' PP- 
phalanx, — a line of warriors with strong defensive armor 
and long spears, — which moved as a unit to the sound 
of music. The new system commended itself to all intel- 
ligent Greeks, and soon found its way to their colonies in 
Italy and in Sicily. Thence one of the Tarquins, whom 
we shall call Servius, adopted it for his own state. 

As each soldier had to arm and equip himself at his own 
expense, Servius found it necessary to take a census of the 
citizens in order to know who should buy heavier, and who 

D 



54 Tl^ Beginnings of Ratne 

ziz'.iLL ligz:er. izzidt. It was chiefly for tiiiis pnrpose that he 
!1.,J,"~~ "' diiided the city into four districts, called tribes, and prob- 
LiTTL43. ably the country intc sxTtea tribes. Each tribe had ;=- 
irrs iz.i a. list of membeis, inclading all the citizens who 
o^ f nd within the district. Taking the census on the 
bas;s :: : '5 local oiganization, Seirias divided the tribes- 
men in : : f :' isses according to the size of their freeholdsl 
T^"Axmj He TtzizzL : t :!: embers of the nist or wealthiest clas to 
equip :-rrj:5r. Tr .:h the hea¥iest and most efficient arms, 
those of :.-t ;r::j :. : iss to boy somewbat less complete 
ei- rments. and so on to the k^es:. 7 r tt tilthier 
classes ~ere t iimed and s:::i m hnes, :ze zehind 
an::-er. : 7 : t ; r lad fifth classes, as . : irzjed 
trc:~s. serti .T.tver occis::z if . : 7 _ . : e fiont 
hut 7:7 : : 7 :uriesof 1 dinifi 7: 7 :zi in 

ttr 7 : .. :i^ : : 1 ^Ties ~r:t TrZ. :7i: :7r eicji. kji xhs 
]iz-:-:^:::zL :::: r 77 7 f '7- t; :f5 in the fomth 
cliss. ini : rttz : 7 i: T r :.\z phalanx con- 

tained eighty-foi: . rti i: :: iti. irzm eariy times it 
appeals to hare been composed of two drnsions, terziei 
le ^ : f forty- two hundred foot soldiers each. This or- 

p. 24. . liiion included mainly plebeians; the patricians con- 

duded to serre in the cavalry, of which there were six 
centuries, three to eacr. !er::::. TTie army, thus organized 
for the field, contsirt i :':-t men of miUtaiy age — fix>m 
seventeen to foity-six yej.rs_ The older men remained in 
^e city for the defence of the waBs. 
:-; ri£r— A: "jie time of this new arrmreii^:.: 7 Territory of 

■" r.;:r.e had increased four cr re ::.i — 71 it the ex- 

lezse of the Etruscans, the Sat:: 75 .-- i ::.z li.-s. When 
r. zzit 5:;:-ei 2 neighboring city she razt i 7 . is and 
everything they enclosed, excepting the ten: lies, ii.t seized 
a third or perhaij b. ; :'.: : : the ctHiquered lir.i. She com- 



Increase in Territory 



35 



pelled many of the dispossessed people to settle on her 
own hills, and admitting all to the citizenship, bestowed 
the patriciate upon the nobles. With the growth of her 
territory, therefore, came a corresponding increase in her 
population and her military strength. After the reform of 



E)A.R3L.^y ROMIE 




Servius, Rome could put into the field a well-organized and 
well-disciplined army of about nine thousand men, foot and 
horse, — the strongest force in Latium. 

In the character and surroundings of the Romans we causes of the 
discover several causes of their future greatness. By per- ^'^ "^^^ '^^ 
sistent labor on their little forms the peasants acquired the 



36 The Begi7inings of Rome 

patience and the strength of will which were to make them 
the best soldiers in the world. As sober, practical men, 
with none of the imagination or the ideals of the Greeks, 
they developed a rare talent for 'law, organization, and self- 
government. The Seven Hills gave a unique opportunity- 
Cicero, Re- for settlements so close together that they found it necessary 

pu Lc, 11. ^Q combine in one state. This union increased the strength 

3-6. 

of Rome, and introduced a precedent for the free admis- 
sion of strangers to citizenship. The unhealthfulness of the 
neighboring plain, by forcing men to build their homes on 
the Hills, encouraged city life and intelligent enterprise. 
Then, too, the advantage of the situation for small trade and 
manufacturing made the City of the Seven Hills the chief 
market of the Latins. Commercial intercourse with the 
Greeks led Servius to adopt their superior military system, 
which in turn made Rome the political head of Latium — 
the beginning of a great career. 

Rome head of We are not to regard her supremacy as forced upon the 
dependent country and exercised wholly for her own benefit. 

Livy i. 45- Rather, Latium was threatened on all sides by enemies : in the 
mountains, the barbarous Sabellians, ever restless, ready to 
pour like torrents into the plain below ; in Campania, the 
Etruscans with their aggressive civilization ; and in alliance 
with the latter, the Carthaginians, whose galleys swooped 
down upon the unprotected coast, to carry off both cattle 
and persons. Li need of protection, the allied Latin towns 
looked to Rome as the strongest community among them, 
and concluded with her a perpetual peace, which made the 
city on the Tiber their head and defender. For a religious 
centre of the union, the Latins and the Romans built a 
temple to Diana on the Aventine. 

It was under the Tarquins that Rome made for herself 
this honorable place in Latium. But the end of their reign 



The End of the Mojiarchy 37 

was drawing near. Myth represents the last Tarquin as a The end 

haughty tyrant who broke the laws of the forefathers, slew n^onarchv 

senators, and so oppressed the people by hard labor that 

they were ready for rebellion. Matters came to a crisis 

when Sextus, the brutal son of the king, did violence to the 

honor of Lucretia, a model of virtue among Roman matrons. 

Collatinus Tarquinius, husband of Lucretia, and Lucius 

Junius Brutus, both kinsmen of the king, led the revolt of 

nobles and commons against the tyrant. He was banished, Livyi.6o; ii. 

and Brutus persuaded the people to swear that they would ^ ' ^^' S^^^^' 

pere, Julius 

nevermore suffer a king to rule at Rome. In place of a c^j^;-, Acti. 
single hfelong sovereign, the people thereafter elected annu- Scene ii. 
ally two consuls as chief magistrates with equal power. 

Sources 

Cicero, Republic, ii. 1-30 ; Livy i ; Dionysius i-iv ; Plutarch, Romti- Reading. 
lus ; Numa ; Eutropius i. 1-9. Cf. Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. ii. 

These sources are made up of (i) stories invented for the most part 
long after the time to which they refer, and therefore of little historical 
value ; and interwoven with the stories, (2) descriptions of institutions 
also composed many years after the regal period. The descriptions are 
of far greater value than the stories, however, for the institutions of 
Rome changed so little from age to age that a writer could with con- 
siderable accuracy infer their past history from their present condition^ 

Modern Works 

Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. I (the most scholarly short 
history) ; How and Leigh, History of Rome, chs. iii, iv ; Shuckburgh, 
History of Rome, chs. iv, v ; Ihne, Early Rome, chs. i-ix ; History of 
Rome, bk. I (entire) ; Mommsen, History of Rome, bk, L chs. v, vi, 
x-xv ; Duruy, History of Rome, I. chs. i-v ; Taylor, Constitzitional and 
Political History of Rome, ch. i ; Fowler, T/ie City- State of the Greeks 
and Romans, chs. i-iii. Most of these writers assume that originally 
the patricians were the only citizens of Rome, and that the plebeians 
were either alien residents or conquered subjects. No one, however, 
has offered any evidence for this strange theory. For the correct view, 
see Pelham, p. 24 ; Meyer, E., Geschichte des /lltertums, ii. p. 520 ff ; 
Botsford, Composition of the Roman Assemblies. 




Lucius Junius Brutus 
mythical founder of the republic 

(Palace of the Conservatori, Rome.) 



CHAPTER III 

ROME BECOMES SUPREME IN ITALY 

(509-264 B.C.) 

First Period of the Republic — External History 



News came to Rome that bands of horse and foot from 
all the towns of the Latin League were gathering at Tusculum 



The mythical 

battle of 

Lake Regil- 

lus, 496 B.C. to restore the aged Tarquin to the throne. In the face of 

Livy ii. 19 f. this great danger the consuls gave way to a dictator, whom 

P. 68. twenty- four lictors attended with axes, and who ruled the 

P. 26 f. state by martial law. Holding this absolute command, 

Postumius led forth the phalanx, and ^butius, his master 



Foreign Relations . 39 

of horse, rode on the left among the agile knights, who 

were armed with bull-hide shields and long, frail lances. 

The armies met at Lake Regillus, near Tusculum. First 

Tarquin the Proud, though feeble with age, spurred his 

horse to a furious attack upon the Roman commander, but 

his clients soon carried him wounded to the rear. On the p. 24f. 

left, yEbutius charged Mamilius of Tusculum, chief general Pp. 6, 36. 

of the Latin League ; the shock of the two heroes was 

terrific and the lances of both drew blood. Meantime the 

knights were engaging each his foe. A battahon of Roman 

exiles, too, fought furiously under Tarquin's son, who rode 

far in their front. The Roman knight Valerius chased him 

back into his band, but thrust through the body, the pursuer 

fell from his horse and his arms clanged loud. Then Her- 

minius, knowing Mamilius by his glittering arms and splendid 

dress, darted a thrust through his body ; but while despoiUng 

the corpse, the victor was wounded, and his men brought 

him to the camp to die. Such were the combats of the 

knights before the Servian phalanx had learned to bear its 

part in war. The Romans won the fight, thanks to the twin 

gods, Castor and Pollux, who took part with them. That 

evening in the P'orum a certain Roman '' saw two men, tall 

and fair, washing their sweating steeds at a fountain [near Plutarch, 

the temple of Vesta]. He marvelled much at their tale of ^^^^'«-5'. 25. 

victory ; then they smiled serenely, and stroked his beard, 

which instantly changed from black to white." On the 

spot where the twin gods thus appeared, the Romans built - 

for them a beautiful temple. 

A treaty which the consuls had made with Carthage in Foreign reia- 
the first year of the republic, 509 h.c, implies that Rome *°°^' 
was supreme in Latium. The Latins, however, had revolted Polybius iii. 
to Tarquin, and the ancient historian introduces this mythi- ^^ ^* 
cal Roman victory to explain why they were so soon ready 



40 Rone becomes Supreme in Italy 

P. 74. for friendship. In 493 b.c, Spurius Cassius, the leading 

Dionysius vi. Statesman of the early republic, negotiated with them a 

^^' perpetual peace ; the Latin League and the city of Rome 

were to furnish yearly commanders alternately, and were to 

share equally the spoils and the conquered lands. A few 

486 B.C. years later the same statesman extended these terms of 

union to the Hernicans, who, though dwelling in a mountain 

Conflict be- valley above Latiura, may be classed with the Romans and 

tween the ^j^g Latins as civilized lowland ers in contrast with the Sa- 

plain and the 

lulls, bines, the ^^quians, and the Volscians — rude mountaineers. 

Every year the dwellers in the plain had to fight for the pro- 
tection of their property and their Hves against the hungry 
tribes of the hills. This war in defence of ci\dlization now 
became the burden of the allies. It was well for the new 
league that the Etruscans, who were still more formidable 
enemies, soon found trouble elsewhere : hordes of barbarous 
Gauls had crossed the Alps and were driving them from the 
474 B.C. Po valley ; off Cumae their navy suffered a terrible defeat at 

Pindar, P)'fh- the hands of Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, who " hurled their 
tan\\ Bots- yQ^^|^ jj^^q ^\^q sea to deliver Hellas from the bondage of 

ford, Greece, ' , , 

p. 142. the oppressor," and Italy from fear of Etruscan dominion. 

Henceforth their power declined ; the triple alhance could 
therefore concentrate more of its strength against the moun- 
taineers. It was a long, hard struggle. Year after year the 
Sabines, descending from their mountain homes, pillaged 
the Roman territory. Often, too, the beacons, blazing on 
the ramparts of Tusculum, announced that the ^-Equians 
were besieging that city, or the smoking farmhouses in the 
distance signalled to Rome their story of desolation. Then 
the plebeian, quitting political strife in the Forum, or leaving 
his plough in the furrow, took down from the walls of his 

Pp-31.33- hut the armor King Servius had ordered his grandfather or 
great-grandfather to buy, and hastened to his place in the 



Cincinnattts 41 

phalanx. In open field this army, strengthened by the allies, 
was more than a match for the unorganized bands of ^qui- 
ans. But defeating highlanders seemed like beating the 
air. Light as the wind they withdrew to their homes among 
the crags, and as lightly swept down again upon the unpro- 
tected fields of the allies. They seized Mount Algidus, cut 
the Hernicans off from the Romans, and raided the plain 
to within three miles of Rome. The story is told that once 
they entrappped the consul Minucius and his army in a 
valley. Thereupon the other consul, at the request of the 
senate, nominated Cincinnatus dictator, and messengers bore cincinnatus. 
the important commission across the Tiber to his four-acre pp. 38, 68. 
farm. Finding him in his tunic engaged in some rural work, Livy iii. 26. 
perhaps digging a ditch, they greeted him as he leaned on 
his spade. " Put on your toga," they said, '' to hear the 
message of the senate." " Is not all well? " he asked as he 
sent his wife Racilia to the house for his gown. Then wiping 
the sweat and dust from his brow and putting on the toga, 
he listened to the commission. He took command. Without 
delay, he relieved the besieged army, humbled the enemy, and 
returned to Rome, his troops laden with booty. So brill- 
iant was the victory that the senate granted him a triumph. 
A grand procession, accordingly, moved along the Sacred P. 23. 
Way through the Forum, then up the Capitoline to the tem- 
ple of Jupiter. In front were the captive leaders of the 
^quians ; men followed with the standards of the enemy ; 
then came the triumphal car in which sat the general clad 
in splendid robes. Behind the car the soldiers marched 
carrying the booty, singing the hymn of triumph, and in- 
dulging in coarse but good-natured jests at the expense 
of their commander, while the citizens spread tables before 
their houses for the entertainment of the army. The pro- 
cession halted before the temple that the general might bring p. 32. 



42 



Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 



The weak- 
ness of Rome. 

P. 4. 



509-449 B.C. 



P. 79. 



Battle of 

Mount Al- 
gidus, 431 
B.C. Livy iv. 
26-29. 

405 B.C. 



Siege of Veil. 
Livy iv. 32-v. 
22; Plutarch, 
Caniillus, 
2-6. 



the chief of the gods an offering of gratitude for the victory. 
Then resigning his command the sixteenth day after taking 
it, he returned to his farm. Though not genuine history, 
the story of Cincinnatus gives a true picture of the simple 
hfe of those early times and of the triumph of a victorious 
general. After Cincinnatus, the Romans had still many years 
of unsuccessful war with the ^quians. 

Meantime tribes of Volscians, who lived in the moun- 
tains southeast of the Hernicans, descending into Latium, 
overran the entire coast from Tarracina to Antium. Advanc- 
ing still farther they seized several Latin towns within sight 
of Rome and threatened to besiege the city itself. At one 
time the mountaineers held nearly all Latium. The fact is 
that Rome had lost greatly by the overthrow of kingship ; 
the monarch, commanding all the resources of the state, had 
given way to factions of nobles and commons, whose dis- 
sensions left their city weak in war. Under the kings Rome 
had won respect abroad, but on their downfall she lost con- 
tact with the Mediterranean world and for more than half 
a century she had to fight for existence against her petty 
neighbors, often beneath her own walls. Then followed a 
lull in the political storm, during which the triple alliance 
began to make headway against its enemies. The crisis 
came in 431 B.C., when the dictator Postumius, in a fierce 
battle, stormed the camps of the Volscians and the ^Equians 
on Mount Algidus. Henceforth the Romans steadily ad- 
vanced. Before the end of the century they had recovered 
Latium as far as Tarracina. Though the ^quians and the 
Volscians still gave trouble, they ceased to be dangerous. 

Toward the end of the century the Romans began war 
upon Veii, an Etruscan city as large as their own, situated 
twelve miles distant on a steep and strongly fortified height. 
After a long siege the dictator Camillus took it, apparently 




TllK 1 l-.MPLE OF CASIOR AND P()1,1.U\ 



TJie Gauls 43 

by a mine. He permitted his soldiers to plunder the city, 396 b.c. 
and sold the inhabitants into slavery. In after years the 
Romans had strange stories to tell of this war : the Alban P. 6. 
lake mysteriously overflowed in a dry season and flooded 
the plain ; an Etruscan seer foretold the invasion of the 
Gauls ; the image of the Etruscan goddess Juno spoke, or 
at least moved. Ancient historians loved to compare the 
siege with that of Troy and insisted that it lasted ten years. 
However that may be, this conquest doubled the Roman 
territory, which soon afterward extended on the north to 
the Ciminian hills. 

In Etruria Rome first came into collision with the Gauls Battle of the 
— tall warriors with fair hair and flashing eyes. Wherever 1^,3906.0. 
they marched, " their harsh music and discordant clamors Diodorus 
filled afl places with a horrible din." About eleven miles ^'^- ^^3-ii6; 

1 11- -1 r ^ ■^ Plutarch, Ca- 

from Rome, on the Allia, a tributary of the Tiber, they met ^jiniu^ 14-29. 

a Roman army of forty thousand men. The barbarians Livy v. 37. 

fought in dense masses ; their enormous swords cut through 

the helmets and gashed the heads of the Romans. The 

men who had often faced the hill tribes in battle fled in 

terror from these gigantic northerners. Some took refuge 

in deserted Veii ; others bore news of the disaster to Rome. 

The city was in a panic ; no one thought of defending The Gauis in 
the walls. The soldiers and the younger senators hurried the city, 390 

B.C. 

to the citadel to strengthen its defences. Those who were 
unable or unwilling to fight dispersed, through the country ; p. 21. 
the Vestals carried away the sacred fire to Caere, a neigh- p. 29. 
boring town. Myth asserts that some of the priests and 
aged senators, placing their ivory chairs in the Forum, sat 
clad in official robes awaiting their fate. As the Ciauls met 
with no resistance at the gates, they entered the city and 
besieged the citadel. Some of them under Brennus, their 
chief, descending to the Forum, as we are told in the story, 



44 



Rome becomes Suprem,e in Italy 



millus, 22. 



" wondered at the men who sat there silent, with all their 
ornaments, how they neither rose from their seats at the 
Plutarch, Ca- approach of the enemy, nor changed color, but sat leaning 
on their staffs with fearless confidence, quietly looking at 
one another. The Gauls were astonished at so strange a 
sight, and for a long time they forbore to approach and 
touch them, as if they were superior beings. But when one 
of them ventured to draw near to Papirius and gently stroke 
his long beard, Papirius struck him on the head with his 
staff, at which the barbarian drew his sword and slew him. 
Then they fell on the rest and killed them, with any other 
Romans whom they found ; and they spent many days in 
plundering the houses, after which they burned them and 
pulled them down in rage at the men on the Capitoline, 
who instead of surrendering, repelled the assailants. For 
this reason the Gauls wreaked vengeance on the city, and 
put to death all their captives, men and women, old and 
young alike." This story was told in praise of the dignity, 
courage, and patriotic devotion of the Roman nobles. 
There is another tale, equally mythical, that one night the 
Gauls were attempting to steal their way up a rough pre- 
cipitous side of the citadel, when the cackling of some 
sacred geese in the temple of Juno aroused the garrison 
and thus saved the place from the enemy. Perhaps this 
story was invented to explain why the Romans held geese 
sacred and honored them in an annual festival of Juno. 
Early Roman history is full of such myths. 

At length the Romans on the Capitoline, weary with con- 
tinual watching and threatened with famine, offered Brennus 
a thousand pounds of gold if he would withdraw. It is said 
that the barbarian chief threw his sword in the scale, ex- 
claiming, " Woe to the vanquished ! " and that while the 
parties were disputing over this increased demand, Camil- 



' ' Woe to 
the van- 
quished ! ' ' 



Rome Rebuilt 45 

lus, again dictator, appeared with an army on the scene and Plutarch, Ca- 
drove the Gauls away without their gold. Doubtless the ''^^^^«-^. 28 f. 
Romans paid the ransom ; the appearance of Camillus is a 
device of the historian for brightening a tarnished spot on 
the fame of Rome. 

The people returned to the city and proceeded to clear Rebuilding 
away the rubbish. Each man built his hut wherever he ® " ^" 
found a convenient place. Within a year Rome with her 
narrow, crooked streets arose from the ashes. The new 
city, which acknowledged Camillus as founder, was as rudely 
built as the old. Though the people were impoverished by 
the war, though most of the public records perished, so that 
we shall never know the details of the earlier Roman his- 
tory, the character and the institutions of the old city con- 
tinued in the new ; there was no break in the current of 
national life. 

In addition to founding the city anew Camillus began to Military re- 
reform the army. Before his time the soldiers served with- jnaninuiar^ 
out pay and equipped themselves according to their means, legion. 
In the war with Veii, however, the senate began to pay them Polybius 
for service, thus making possible a thorough change in the ^'* ^ 
military system ; for henceforth the citizens, who had been 
accustomed to short summer campaigns, could serve the 
entire year, when necessary, and the poor man as well as 
the rich could buy a complete equipment. Hence the dis- 
tinction of classes in the armor and in the arrangement of 
the troops gave way to a ranking according to experience. P. 33 f. 
The recruit entered the light division ; after a time he passed 
to the front line of the heavy infantry, thence to the second 
line, and when he became a veteran, to the third. The sol- 
diers of the first two lines, besides defensive armor, carried 
each two pila, or javelins, for hurling, and a sword. The 
veterans were armed in tiic same way, except that instead 



46 



Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 



Polybius 
vi. 23. 



lb. 



The new cav- 
alry, 

Pp- 34. 39- 




of javelins each carried a lance. It was probably at the 
suggestion of Caraillus that the Romans strengthened their 
defensive armor : on the large quadrangular shield which 
they now carried they fixed an iron boss for resisting pikes 

and missiles, and added a 
crest to the helmet for 
warding off the sword-blows 
of the Gauls. The crest 
was surmounted by " three 
purple or black feathers 
standing upright, about a 
cubit long. The effect of 
these plumes, combined with 
the rest of the armor, was to 
give the man an appearance 
of being twice his real height 
and a noble aspect calcu- 
lated to strike terror into the 
enemy." In place of the 
solid phalanx, the lines of heavy-armed men were now 
divided each into ten companies called maniples, stationed 
at intervals in such a way that the vacant spaces in a line 
were covered by the companies of the following line. Or- 
dinarily a legion consisted of three thousand heavy-armed 
troops and twelve hundred light-armed. The number of 
legions varied according to the requirements of war. 

As great a change took place in the cavalry. Down to 
the war with Veii the knights, whose horses were furnished 
by the state, and who were all or nearly all patricians, car- 
ried light arms in the early Roman fashion, and accordingly 
proved nearly useless. But in that war sons of wealthy ple- 
beians volunteered to serve in the cavalry with their own 
horses. As the offer was accepted, they armed themselves 



A Roman Helmet 

(National Museum, Naples ; from 
Pompeii.) 



The New Cavalry 47 

with the heavier and better Greek weapons, so that hence- 
forth Rome had an efficient cavalry. There were regularly 
three hundred knights to a legion, as before. 

Usually battle opened with skirmishing of the light troops. Plan of bat- 

tie 

As the hostile forces neared each other, apparently the mani- 
ples of the second line closed up the vacant spaces in the Livy viii. 8 
first ; the van, thus formed, hurled their missiles, then sword ^^ ^^ // ^'^^' 

' ' ' ' rected). 

in hand dashed upon the confused enemy. If they failed 
to win the victory, when weary with fighting they withdrew 
to the rear through the vacant spaces in the line behind 
them. Meantime the veterans waited, the right knee and 
the left foot resting on the ground, the shield leaning against 
the shoulder, the spear fixed upright in the earth. They 
seemed a rampart bristling with lances. When they found 
themselves facing the foe in the crisis of battle, they arose, 
and moving apart to the right and left, filled up the vacant 
spaces between the maniples, so that each man had ample 
room for action. Skilled by years of practice in the play 
of the sword and in the lance thrust, the old guard rushed 
upon the enemy. Each man fought his own battle as if 
Rome depended upon him alone. If the veterans failed, 
the fight was lost. 

The legion was a remarkable institution ; strong, yet light Superiority 
and flexible, it combined in the missile, sword, and lance jniutary sys- 
the advantages of distant and hand-to-hand fighting, — " the tem. 
volley of javelins prepared the way for the sword encounter, 
exactly as a volley of musketry now precedes a charge with Mommsen, 
the bayonet." In the arrano^ement of the maniples it was \^"'^:..^ ' 
at once open and compact ; and as the Romans were accus- 
tomed to fortify the camp in which they expected to pass 
even a single night, they were always at liberty to choose- 
between offering battle and remaining quietly behind their 
walls. Camillus began the reform in the conflict with Veii ; 



48 



Ro^ne becomes Supreme in Italy 



Organization 
of acquired 
territory. 



Livv vi. 3. 



Four new- 
tribes, 387, 
and two in 
358 B.C. 
Colonies. 
383, 382 B.C. 



338 B.C. 



Municipia. 



Citizenship 
without the 
right to vote 
— " Caeritan 
rights." 



it required more than a century of wars with the Gauls, the 
Latins, the Samnites, and the Greeks to bring his work to 
perfection. 

While the Romans, by rebuilding the city and reforming 
the army, were striving to make good their misfortune, all 
the neighbors rose in arms against them, — Etruscans, Vol- 
scians, and even the chief towns of the Latins and the Her- 
nicans. But their combined strength could not overwhelm 
the city ; for Camillus, " the life and soul of Rome," every- 
where led his legions to victory. The government secured 
its advantages by forming new tribes from the conquered 
territory ^ and by planting colonies in Etruria and in Latium, 
— for instance, Sutrium and Setia. A Latin colony, whether 
made up wholly of Romans or shared with the Latin and 
Hernican alhes, was one which enjoyed the privileges of an 
old Latin town. The two just mentioned were of this class. 
A Roman colony, on the other hand, was one composed 
exclusively of Romans who continued to enjoy the privileges 
of full citizenship in the mother city. It was usually a gar- 
rison of three hundred men, with their families, established 
in a maritime town for the defence of the coast. The earli- 
est of this kind was probably Antium, made into a Roman 
colony some years after the time of which we are now speak- 
ing. In addition to the colonies there were towns termed 
77ii(nicipia with various privileges. The people of Tusculum, 
admitted to the Roman state in 381 B.C., enjoyed full citi- 
zenship and self-government ; those of Caere, on the con- 
trary, though citizens, could neither vote nor hold office at 
Rome, and at the same time their local freedom was re- 
stricted by the presence of an officer termed prefect, sent 

1 Rome formed new tribes on lands she had taken in war and settled 
with her own citizens. There were twenty tribes in the regal period, 

and one was added in the early republic (pp. 34, 73). 



• Treaty zvitJi Samninm 49 

from Rome to administer justice among them. The system 

of organizing tribes, colonies, and municipia strengthened the 

hold of the leading city on the lands won in war. A great Allies. 

change had taken place in the relations between the aUies 

themselves. A hundred years of warfare with the moun- Fifth century 

taineers had so weakened the Latins and the Hernicans ^'^' 

that they could no longer claim equality with Rome. This P. 40. 

city, — protected by her allies, yet posing as their champion, 

— gained politically by their loss. She now furnished all 

the commanders, and she claimed the lion's share of the 

spoils and of the conquered land. 

About the middle of the fourth century B.C., Rome allied Treaty be- 

herself with Samnium, the most powerful nation in the ^^^ ^^^_ 

interior of the peninsula. While the city on the Tiber with nium, 354 

the greatest difficulty had been gradually gaining control of 

south Etruria and had been slowly organizing her supremacy 

over Latium, the Samnites were passing through a brilliant P. 4. 

career of conquest. Some of their tribes descended upon Previous 

the coast region afterward known as Campania, southeast conquests of 

the Samnites. 
of Latium. This country is renowned for its fertility and poiybius ill. 

beauty, for its bright sea and sunny sky ; and on the coast is 9i- 

the great Bay of Naples, making commerce easy. Admitted 

in friendship to the Etruscan Capua, the barbarians mas- 424 b.c. 

sacred the inhabitants and took possession of the rich city. ^'^^ '^'' 37- 

They conquered the Greek Cumae and occupied the whole P. 12. 

of Campania. About the time this invasion began, swarms 420 b.c, 

of Samnites under the name of Lucanians, passing southward, ^^'^ ^^' ^' 

assailed the cities of Magna Graecia. As they were equally Botsford, 

successful in this region, we find them, before the treaty <^'^'^'^"''- 

p. 246. 
with Rome above mentioned, in possession of nearly all 

lower Italy. Thus in the brilliancy of their achievements 
the Samnites greatly surpassed the Romans ; but their con- 
quests were of no value to the nation as a whole, for the 

E 



50 



Rome becomes SiLpreme in Italy 



tribes which migrated from the hills to the coast lost all 
political connection with the mother country. Forgetting 
. the primitive customs of the race, they readily learned to 
live the refined though less virtuous life of their Etruscan 
and Greek subjects. Accordingly while Capua became, 
next to Rome, the greatest and wealthiest city of Italy, her 
people won notoriety for weakness and vice. They trembled 
Livy vii. 30 f. before their brave kinsmen of the hills ; and though many 
Capuans were ready to serve for pay in foreign armies, few 
were willing to defend their own city. When therefore 
fresh tribes from Samnium ravaged their fields, they sur- 
rendered the city to Rome in return for protection. The 
senate hesitated to offend Samnium, an allied state ; and yet 
it could not resist the temptation to acquire, even by viola- 
tion of the treaty, so rich a country as Campania. By 
accepting this offer the Romans brought upon themselves 
the First Samnite War. 

The two nations, however evenly matched, differed in 
character. The Samnites were mountaineers, who had no 
cities, no wealth, no king or aristocracy. Poor but brave 
and free, they looked greedily down upon the well-cultivated 
plains on their western border. With their skilful swords 
they hoped to win a title to these rich lands, as o<^hers of 
their race had done before. They were opposed in this 
project by a single city, governed by an able, warlike aris- 
tocracy, — a city which prided itself on the discipline and 
the subordination of the masses, and which controlled the 
resources of the plain extending from the Ciminian forest to 
the Liris River. No other country in Italy was so thoroughly 
centralized. Its army was a peasant militia, obedient to 
command, brave, patient, hardy, ready for long marches and 
severe toils ; rarely over-elated by success or cast down by 
misfortune. Most of the commanders had inherited the 



Contrast be- 
tween Rome 
and Sam- 
nium. 
P. 2. 



P. 36. 



First Samnite War 51 

military knowledge and prestige of a long line of ancestors. 
In their military organization and tactics they had taken Pp. 33, 45. 
lessons of the Greeks ; their legion was even an improve- 
ment on the Greek phalanx, especially as it was better adapted 
to fighting in the hills. 

The Latins and the Romans entered this struggle with First Sam- 

one soul : it was a national war for home and country, for ^^ ® ^^' 

^ _ -^ ' 343-341 B.C. 

the wealth and civilization of the plain against encroaching 
barbarism. They fought therefore with great spirit ; the 
Samnites declared that in battle they saw fire in the eyes of 

the enemy and the fury of madmen in their faces, — this Livyvii. 33. 

was their apology for flight. So great was the success of Treaty with 

the Romans in this short war that, the Carthaginians, who Carthage, 

.348 B.C. 

had recently made a new treaty with them, sent ambassa- Poiybius 
dors to congratulate them, and to bring as a gift a golden iii- 24- 
crown of twenty-five pounds weight, which was placed in the Livy vii. 38. 
temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline. 

At the request of the Campanians the Romans garrisoned The mutiny, 
Capua and other towns of that country to repel the incur- 34^ b.c. 
sions of the Samnites. The soldiers stationed in Capua, who 
were poor and heavily indebted, complained among them- Livy vii. 
selves of the way they were treated by the generals ; appar- ^ ~^'^' 
ently at the close of a campaign the commanders had often 
stricken the names of privates from the roll to deprive them 
of pay and of their share of booty. The military tribunes, 
— staff officers, — also, complained that the commanders 
degraded them to the rank of centurion — captain. Irri- 
tated by these real grievances and losing their discipline in 
the pleasures of the gay city, they plotted to massacre the 
Capuans, seize their wealth, and marry their wives. The 
conspirators were nearly ready for the deed when Gains 
Marcius Rutilus, consul for the following year, arrived. He 
quietly dismissed from the army the most turbulent spirits, 



52 



Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 



Appian, For- 
eign Wars, 
iii. 2. 



The Latins 
demand rep- 
resentation 
at Rome. 



Cf. p. 135. 
Livy viii. 4 f. 



who, however, assembled with others and marched twenty 
thousand strong against Rome. While they were in camp 
near the city, Marcus Valerius Corvus, who on their approach 
had been appointed dictator, came out to treat with them. 
As he was a great favorite of the soldiers he persuaded the 
mutineers to desist from their attempt, promising them a 
redress of their grievances. Accordingly on his motion the 
senate and assembly passed a law, wliich besides granting 
pardon for the mutiny, cancelled all debts and forbade both 
the erasure of a soldier's name from the military list and the 
degradation of a tribune. 

In 341 B.C. Rome and Samnium suddenly made peace 
and alliance ; possibly both feared Archidamus, king of 
Lacedaemon, who had recently come to Italy with an army 
to help the Spartan colony, Tarentum, against the natives. 
The Romans immediately withdrew their army from the 
field, leaving the Latins and other allies in the lurch. For 
a time the war went on without the help of the leading city. 
At last the Latins, now at the head of a powerful alliance of 
neighboring states, thinking that they were as strong as the 
metropolis, demanded equal representation with the Romans 
in the consulship and in the senate ; in place of allies they 
wished to be Romans. Though just, the demand was re- 
jected with scorn ; " a foreign consul and foreign senators 
sitting in the temple of Jupiter would be an insult to the 
supreme god of the state, as though he were taken captive 
by the enemy ! " The Roman historian asserts that the 
gods, resenting the impudence of the Latin envoys, sent a 
thunderstorm while they were speaking, and that as Annius, 
chief of the embassy, was passing down the steps of the 
Capitoline temple, he fell forward with such violence upon 
a stone that he lost his senses. 

War followed. The Romans and the Latins were of one 



The Latin War 53 

blood and speech and had long served under the same The Latin 
commanders. They had the same arms, the same military ' 34°-33 
organization and discipline. Rome, however, enjoyed the 
advantage that comes to a single city in opposing a loose Livy viii. 6- 
confederacy. She brought the war to a successful close in ^^' 
one or two fierce battles and a series of sieges. She then 
dissolved the Latin League and made separate treaties with 
Laurentum, which had remained faithful, and with Tibur The Latin 
and Prseneste, — cities too strong for her to think of sub- ^-^^s^^^ ^'^^- 

solved, 338 

duing. A few Latin towns were admitted to full Roman ^^ 
citizenship. The other towns of Latium ^ and those of Cam- Liw viii. n, 
pania received the citizenship without the right to vote and 

^ i" & pp. 127. 233. 

hold office at Rome. While most of the Latin communities 
retained their local self-administration, Rome sent out pre- P- 49- 
fects to rule those of Campania. Two new tribes were made (29 tribes; p. 
of the lands taken in this war. ^s.) 

In the year in which the Latin League was dissolved, Alexander, 
King Archidamus fell in battle. Thereupon the Tarentines Mojossians^ 
called to their assistance Alexander, uncle and brother-in- 
law of Alexander the Great, and kijig of the Molossians, a 
tribe of Epirus. He came with an army organized like 
that of his famous relative. Meeting at first with marked 
success, he dreamed of building up as great a power in the 
West as his namesake was then creating in the East. Sam- 
nium aided and encouraged her southern kinsmen, the 
Lucanians and the Bruttians, while Rome, regardless of 
obligations to her neighbors, made a treaty with Alexander 
as well as with the Gauls, — both enemies of Italy. But 
the Greek King found it impossible to conquer the Italians. 

^ Lanuvium, Aricia, Nomentum, and Pedum — all important cities — 
received the full Roman citizenship, — a privilege already enjoyed by 
Tusculum ; p. 49. As a rule the smaller Latin tov^'ns were given the 
limited citizenship. 



54 



Rome becomes Siipreme in Italy 



Livy viii. 24. 



Second Sam- 
nite War, 
326-304 B.C. 



Astonished at their manly character, he is said to have 
exclaimed, " While my brother-in-law is fighting against 
women, I have to contend with men ! " Finally he was 
slain by treachery, and his foes, reheved of intense fear, 
gave vent to their wild joy by manghng his body. 

Rome, however, had offended Samnium by her treaties 




A Proconsul 

(National Museum, Naples; from Pompeii.) 



and still more by founding Fregellae, a strong fortress 
colony, near her rival's border. She showed her aggres- 
sive spirit further by besieging Naples, a free Greek city of 
Campania. The Samnites reenforced the place, and when 
Roman envoys complained to them of the act, their magis- 
trates replied, '^ This is no subject for conference or arbitra- 



Second Samnite War 55 

tion ; let us meet in the plains of Campania, where our arms Livy viii. 23. 
shall settle the dispute." It was a question whether Rome, 
by reducing all Italy to peace, should give her an oppor- 
tunity for progress in government, in wealth, and in culture, 
or whether a large part of the peninsula should still be 
subject to the constant raids and the fruitless colonizations 
of half-civilized highlanders. At the beginning of the war 
Pubhhus Philo, a plebeian consul, was besieging Naples. 
The senate, to retain this able general at his post, continued The procon- 

him a second year in command with the title of proconsul. ^^^^^^P ^"^^^" 

. . . tuted, 326 

This new institution was of the greatest importance ; for we b.c. 

shall see that it was chiefly the proconsuls who conquered Cf. pp. 113, 

the world for Rome and who then overthrew the republican ^^^' 

government of their city. 

When Naples surrendered she became a naval ally, Rome wins 
exempt from service on land but required to furnish war- 
ships and crews when needed. These favorable terms soon 
brought Rome other maritime allies. In diplomacy she 
showed her superiority to Samnium by drawing to her side 
the Apulians, who were incessantly harassed by the men 
of the hills, and the Lucanians, notwithstanding their close 
relationship with Rome's great enemy. 

The fortunes of war varied. At first Rome was success- Disaster in 

ful ; then the tide turned in favor of Samnium, and several _ t. ^^ ^^^^ 
' ' Pass, 321 B.C. 

Latin towns revolted. In 321 B.C., Pontius, the Samnite Livyix. i-n. 

leader, enticed the consuls with forty thousand men into an 

ambush at the Caudine Pass, in a valley of the Apennines, 

and compelled them to surrender. The consuls, in the 

name of the state, consented to the enemy's terms of peace ; 

the troops, deprived of their arms, passed humbly under the 

yoke, after which all returned home but six hundred 

knights, who were detained as hostages. Feeling keenly 

their disgrace, the soldiers slunk into the city under cover 



56 Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 

of night ; business closed, while all mourned the shameful 
surrender and treaty. As the consuls retired from office, 
Lucius Papirius Cursor and Quintus Publilius Philo, the two 
most eminent men in the state, were elected in their place. 
Under their influence the government repudiated the treaty 
on the ground that it had not been ratified by the people, 
and delivered to the enemy the ex-consuls who were re- 
sponsible for it. After they had crossed the border, one of 
them, exclaiming that he was now a Samnite, kicked the 
Roman herald, to give his city a pretext for renewing the 
war. Such was the faith of the Romans, — strict adher- 
ence to the letter of an agreement, ready violation of its 
spirit. 
A hero of the Perhaps the most distinguished leader of the war was Lucius 
'^^^' Papirius Cursor, mentioned above. " As a warrior he was 

Livy ix. i6. worthy of every praise : for he had a quick mind and mar- 
vellous physical strength. In speed of foot he excelled all 
of his age, — whence came the name of Cursor to his family. 
!Much practice in eating and drinking, or perhaps his re- 
markable health, had given him an enormous appetite and 
digestion. Never wearied by toil and marching, he wore 
out his army, foot and horse. When once the noble strip- 
lings in his cavalry ventjred to ask that, as they had be- 
haved well, he would excuse them from some of their work, 
he replied, ' You shall not say that no indulgence has 
been granted you : I excuse you from rubbing your horses* 
backs when you dismount.' " As dictator he once threat- 
ened to have Fabius, his master of horse, killed for fighting 
contrary to orders. The fact that the officer had won a 
Livy viii. 30- great victory by so doing did not excuse him in the eyes of 
35- this stern discipUnarian ; only the prayers of the senate and 

P. -8. people saved him narrowly. Thereafter these two men 

could never be friends. On another occasion, " when the 




> s 

< 'y 

< ^ 



H -2 



m 



Policy of Conquest 57 

praetor, or chief magistrate, of Praeneste had been slow in Livy ix. i6. 
bringing his troops to the front, Papirius summoned him to 
his tent and bade the Hctor make ready his axe ; then as 
the culprit stood frightened nearly to death, the commander 
said, ' Here, lictor, that stump is in the way ; hew it 
down.' " Papirius was a model of firmness, strength, and 
energy. In these respects, as well as in his strict discipline 
and in his sense of responsibility and of the need of obedi- 
ence, he was the ideal Roman of the age. His fellow-citi- 
zens, so Livy asserts, would have confidently matched him 
against Alexander the Great, had that conqueror carried out 
his plan of invading Italy. 

After the disaster at the Caudine Pass, the war dragged Roman policy 
on from year to year. The frequent raids of both parties ° conques . 
across the border rarely culminated in a battle. In general 
the Samnites desired peace ; but though the senate was will- 
ing to grant it, the people, who found in conquest their 
only remedy for overpopulation, would have nothing short 
of submission. It was the policy of Rome to settle and P. 48. 
organize every foot of conquered ground, and to hem in her (Two new 
enemy by establishing fortress colonies on the border. In ^"'^^s, 318 

, B.C., making 

312 B. c, Appius Claudius Csecus, the greatest statesman of 31.) 

his time, bound Campania fast to the imperial city by a mili- Appian\\'ay, 

tary road from Rome to Capua, named after him the Appian 312 b.c. 

P. QO f. 

Way. 

It seems probable that the same statesman provided for Grand coaii- 

building the first Roman fleet, and for the first time com- 1^^° against 
° ' Rome, 311 

pelled citizens without land to serve in the army. These b.c. 
new measures were necessary, for the ambitious policy of Livy ix. 32. 
his city was arousing new enemies. First the Etruscans and 
the Umbrians joined Samnium ; several lesser tribes fol- 
lowed ; all Italy seemed aflame with war. At this crisis the 
consul Fabius, commander against the Etruscans, abandon- 



58 



Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 



P. 56. 



Livy ix. 38. 



Great victory 
of Papirius, 

309 B.C. 
Livy ix. 40. 



End of the 
war, 304 B.C. 

Livy ix. 45. 



ing his communications, plunged boldly through the track- 
less Ciminian forest. Rome feared for her army, which had 
disappeared from sight ; then came the happy news that it 
had emerged beyond the forest and was plundering the rich 
fields of central Etruria. At the same time a rumor spread 
that the other consul, commanding in Samnium, was in 
danger. The government could do nothing but appoint a 
dictator to go to the rescue. The senate's messengers, ac- 
cordingly, hurried to Fabius and urged him for the sake of 
his country to lay aside his enmity toward Lucius Papirius 
and to nominate him dictator. " The consul, casting his 
eyes to the ground, left the messengers in doubt as to what 
he would do. Then in the silent time of night, according 
to the established custom," he made the nomination as they 
wished. 

To the Samnites the struggle with Rome had become a 
holy war in defence of their homes and their altars. In the 
army which met Papirius, a sacred band, sworn to conquer 
or die, stood at the right clad in white tunics, their shields 
glittering with silver bosses. Another band wore gayly 
colored garments with gold-embossed bucklers. All had 
loose coats of mail, while on their helmets tall plumes 
waved. The fight was sharp ; " the plains were quickly 
filled with heaps of bodies and of splendid armor." Rome's 
enemies fell ; and the aged dictator celebrated his last and 
most magnificent triumph. Years afterward on festive days 
the silversmiths of Rome continued to hang these silver and 
golden shields in front of their shops as decorations of the 
Forum. 

The opposition to Rome weakened. The consuls of 
succeeding years gained fresh victories, ravaged Etruria, and 
captured the strongholds of Samnium. The war ended in 
304 B.C. ; though the Samnites had suffered great losses. 



Migration of the Gauls 59 

they remained free. With spirits still unbroken, they con- 
sented to a renewal of the former treaty. Rome contented 
herself with imposing these easy terms, as she wished to 
settle and to organize the territory won in the war. She (Two new 
aimed to cut Samnium off from Umbria and Etruria by "^^ es in 299 

■' B.C., making 

a network of military roads and strongly fortified Latin 33.) 
colonies extending through central Italy ; by similar means Map, p. 64. 
she planned to secure Apulia, while she maintained peace 
with the Greeks in the south of the peninsula. 

The work of organization might have continued for years. Migration of 
had not an unforeseen event cut it short. The whole Celtic 
race was in commotion ; hordes of these people invaded 
Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy at nearly the same time. 
Those who came to Italy swept with them on their march 299 b.c. 
the earlier Gallic settlers in the Po valley. As they pro- P. 40. 
ceeded southward they met with encouragement and sup- Poiybius ii. 
port ; for it had been the poHcy of Rome to attach the ^^' 
allies to herself by upholding the rule of their nobles. The 
aristocrats in the allied cities, accordingly, relying on this 
foreign help, had become intolerably proud and oppressive. 
When, therefore, the Gauls reached Etruria, the commons, 
revolting against their harsh masters, welcomed the bar- 
barians as their saviours and gladly joined them against 
Rome. For similar reasons the Lucanians, the Umbrians, 
and some lesser tribes began war. The Samnites, who Third Sam- 
occupied the citadel of the peninsula, and who were the °^*^ ^^'^' 

^ ^ ' 298-290 B.C. 

soul of Italian freedom, inspired and directed this grand 

democratic uprising against Rome, the stronghold of aris- Livy x. n ff. 

tocracy. To hold his northern allies faithful, P^gnatius, 

the Samnite commander, broke through the Roman barrier 

which extended across central Italy, and reached Etruria 

at the head of a great army. Rome exerted herself to the 

utmost to meet this formidable league. Never had Italy 



6o Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 

seen armies so great or a military spirit so stubborn as in 
this war, which was to determine the fate of the peninsula. 
Battle at The decisive battle was fought at Sentinum in Umbria. 

, „ ^ ' The GaUic war chariots furiously charged the Roman left 

295 B.C. •' ° 

commanded by the consul Decius ; the clatter of hoofs and 
the rolling of wheels terrified the Roman horses and put 

Livy X. 28. even the soldiers to disorderly flight. Then at the dictation 
of a pontiff who stood by his side, Decius solemnly devoted 
himself and the enemy to ruin and death : "■ I drive before 
me terror and flight, blood and death, the rage of the gods 
of heaven and hell. May the breath of the furies infect the 
foemen's arms ! May the Gauls and the Samnites sink with 
me to perdition ! " As he said these words, he dashed on 
horseback into the thickest crowd of Gauls and perished 
on their spears. Though this religious act had little effect 
on the barbarians, it ralhed the Romans. Strengthened by a 
force which Fabius, the other commander, sent from the right 
wing, they advanced to the attack ; their javelins pierced 
the bulwark of Gallic shields ; the barbarians fled. At the 
same time Fabius defeated the Samnites. By this victory 
Rome broke the league of her enemies. Deserted by their 
allies, the Samnites held out resolutely for five more years. 
At last Manius Curius Dentatus, a peasant who by personal 

290 B.C. merit had raised himself to the consulship, compelled them 

to sue for peace. They were now dependent allies of Rome. 

Results of the The conflict between the plain and the mountains, which, 
with brief interruptions, had raged for more than half a 
century, was ended. It had desolated Italy from Etruria to 
Lucania. Cities and villages were in ruins ; pastures and 
cornfields had become a lonely waste ; thousands of warriors 
had fallen in battle and thousands of men, women, and 
children once free were now slaves of the Romans. Civiliza- 
tion had triumphed, yet at a great cost ; the war whetted 



struggle. 



War with Tarentuni 6i 

the Roman appetite for plunder and fostered slavery, the 
curse of ancient society. 

Rome next designed to win control of all southern Italy, war with 
Accordingly she planted a colony of twenty thousand men at ^^^ "^'^ 
Venusia, in a strong position where Samnium, Apulia, and 
Campania meet, with a view to keeping the surrounding 
tribes in check and to cutting Tarentum off from the 
interior. Then she openly broke her treaty with the Taren- Appian, For- 
tines, who called on Pyrrhus, kin^ of Epirus, for help. ^^^'^ '^^^' 

° lii. 7. I ; 

This king, a brilliant military genius, came with a small but piutarch, 
strong body of troops who were skilled in the arms and fy''>'^^^^^- 
tactics of the Macedonian phalanx. He first met the enemy 
at Heraclea. Seven times the light battalions of Rome Battle at 
threw themselves against his "hedge of spears," only to be ^^^^^ ^^' 
repulsed each time with heavy loss. Then his trained 
elephants, charging the weakened enemy, breached their Plutarch, 
lines like a volley of artillery. The Romans were shrinking ^'^ ''"^' ^ ' 
before the " gray oxen," as they called these enormous 
beasts, when a sudden dash of the Thessalian horse completed 
their ruin. Allies now began to join the victorious general, 
who pushed on till he came within forty miles of Rome. So 
great had been his own losses in the recent battle, however, 
that he was anxious to make peace with the enemy, whose Plutarch, 
bravery and discipline he admired. Cineas, his ambassador, ^'" "^'^' ^ ' 
spoke eloquently in the senate ; the commons, too, pre- 
ferred peace, that they might settle the lands acquired in 
the Samnite wars. But Appius Claudius, now old and bhnd, 
carried on a litter into the senate-house, raised his voice 
against these shameful proceedings, — " Let Pyrrhus return 
home and then we may make ])eace with him," — thus 
setting forth the principle that thereafter Rome would take 
care of the interests of Italy. FaiHng to win his cause by 
eloquence or bribery, Cineas returned to his master with 



62 



Rome becomes Siipreme in Italy 



Battle at As- 
culum, 279 
B.C. 



Battle at 
Beneventum, 
275 B.C. 

P. 60. 

Character of 
Pyrrhus. 

Plutarch, 
Pyrrhus, 8, 
26. 



272 B.C. 



The organi- 
zation of 
Roman rule 
in Italy. 

Tribes. 



the report that the Roman senate was an assembly of kings, 
and that the destruction of one army at Heraclea had 
resulted only in bringing twice as many fresh troops into 
service. He won another battle at Asculum, so dearly that 
he remarked to his friends, " Another such victory will ruin 
us." Then he crossed over to Sicily to aid his countrymen 
against the Carthaginians; but even with his brilliant suc- 
cesses there, he failed to dislodge the enemy from the island. 
Returning with a few veterans to Italy, he was defeated at 
Beneventum by Dentatus, and thereupon withdrew to his 
home. 

Pyrrhus was noble and generous ; his contact with the 
Romans inspired even that boorish people with courtesy 
to their foe. And when his troops saw the splendid figure 
of their commander leading in the hottest of the battle, or 
mounted in their front on the rampart of a besieged city, 
hewing down the foe with his sword, they thought him more 
than human. But his genius was only for war : he knew not 
how to complete or to organize his conquests ; he failed to 
attach to himself the peoples he had come to assist. The 
ease-loving Greeks of Italy and Sicily would have none of 
the discipline to which he subjected them. Refusing the 
rule of this chivalrous king, they had nothing left but sub- 
mission to a nation whose speech and habits they had 
ridiculed as barbarous. After the departure of Pyrrhus 
Tarentum surrendered, and soon Rome became mistress 
of all Italy south of the Rubicon. 

Within this territory were communities of every grade 
of privilege, ranging from full Roman citizenship to subjec- 
tion. First there were the thirty-three tribes, — soon to be 
increased to thirty-five, — containing the full Roman citi- 
zens and occupying much of the country which lies between 
the Apennines and the sea and extends from Caere to For- 



Organization 63 

mise. Although these citizens generally lived on their (P. 59, mar- 
farms or in villages, they had a few larger towns, which ^^" ' ^^^^ ^^^° 
° ' ^ ° ' tribes in 241 

enjoyed local self-government. Such towns were municipia b.c, making 
of the highest class. Equally privileged were the Roman 35-) 
colonies founded mainly on the coast for the protection of Municipia. 
the seaboard. Municipia of the second class enjoyed self- P. 49. 
government and citizenship, except the right to vote and to Roman colo- 
hold office at Rome. A third class of municipia, ruled by "^^^* 
prefects sent them from Rome, were called prefectures. Prefectures. 
Communities were reduced to this class generally as a pun- 
ishment for rebellion or for other grave misconduct. These 
were the various grades of Roman citizenship ; we shall now 
review the allies. 

Of the allied communities, the nearest to the Romans in Allies, 
race, in privileges, and in friendship were the Latins. First ^^\ ^ 
among them were those which remained of the original 
Latin towns, as Tibur and Prseneste ; next the Latin colo- P. 53- 
nies founded in various parts of Italy, usually in the interior. 
The colonists were Romans or Romanized Latins, who 
prided themselves on their near relations with the mother 
city. They not only held the country about them in alle- 
giance to the central government, but served at the same 
time as a means of spreading the Latin language and civi- 
lization throughout the peninsula. A network of military 
roads connected them with one another and with the gov- 
erning city. Inferior to the Latins were those called simply (2) The 
the Italians, as for instance the Samnites. All the allied ^^ '^"^" 
states, while exempt from taxation, furnished troops for the 
Roman army, with the exception of the naval allies, who 
provided ships and crews. Rome reserved to herself the P. 55. 
right to declare war, to make peace, and to coin money, 
while she granted to the allies the privilege of trading with 
her but generally not with one another. 



64 



Rome becomes Supreme in Italy 



This gradation of rights gave even the lowHest community 
Rome a great hope of bettering its condition ; it isolated the alHes from 
one another and bound them singly to the central power. 



power. 







10' 



18' 



gi^f^'^ COLONIES -^ 

MILITARY ROADS 

OF 



o Roman Colony. • Latin Colony. 

e Other Cities Military Road. 

The numbers are the dates 

(B. C.) of founding. 

10° Longitude 12° East from 



ENSRAVED BY BORMAY & CO., N.Y. 



The system here described extended northward only to the 
^Esis River ; for the Senones, a tribe of Gauls occupying 
the Umbrian coast, now under Roman rule, were not allies 
but tributary subjects. Indeed it was chiefly in opposition 



A Great Power 65 

to the Gauls that the Italians, led by Rome, had come to 
look upon themselves as one people, — the nation of the 
gown against the nation wearing trousers. This federal sys- 
tem, based upon Italian nationality and directed by Rome, 
assured to the peninsula domestic peace and to the leading 
city a place among the great states of the world. The fore- P. 116. 
most powers of the East at this time were Egypt, — with 
which Rome allied herself in 273 B.C., — Macedonia, and 
the Seleucid empire ; of the West, Carthage and Rome. 

Sources 

Livy ii-xv (of bks. xi-xv we have but a brief epitome) ; Dionysius Reading, 
v-xx (of the last ten books fragments only are left) ; Polybius ii, 18-21 
(Gallic invasion) ; Velleius Paterculus i. 14 f. (colonies); Diodorus xi. 
53; xiv. loi f, II3-I16; xvi. 15; xix ; FhxtdiVch., Corio/anus ; Ca- 
millus ; Pyrrhus ; Appian, Foreign Waj's, ii, iii ; Florus i. 9-26 ; Eutro- 
pius, i. 9-ii. 18; Justin xvii. iii-xviii. 2; Pausanias i, ,ii f; cf. 
Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. iii. 

For the early republic the sources are nearly as untrustworthy as 
for the regal period (p. 37), but improve as we pass the Gallic invasion 
-(p. 45) and approach the Samnite and Punic Wars (pp. 91, 146 f.). 

Modern Works 

Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. II, ch. ii ; Shuckburgh, 
History of Rome, chs. vi, vii, ix-xii, xiv, xv ; How and Leigh, History 
of Rome, chs. vii, x, xi, xiii-xvi ; Ihne, Early Rome, chs. xv-xvii, xx, 
xxi (to the Gallic invasion); History of Rome, bk. II. chs. iii-vi, xiv- 
xvi, xviii ; bk. III. chs. i, iv-vi, viii-x, xii-xvii ; Mommsen, History of 
Rome, bk. I. chs. vii-x ; bk. II. chs. iv-vii ; Duruy, History of Rome, 
II. chs. vii, x, xi, xiv-xvii ; Taylor, Constitutional and Political History 
of Rome, ch. vi ; Freeman, Story of Sicily, ch. xiii (for Pyrrhus); 
Montesquieu, Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans, chs. i-iv. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PLEBEIANS WIN THEIR RIGHTS (509-264 B.C.) 

First Period of the Republic — Internal History 

Constitu- While Rome was gaining the supremacy in Italy, impor- 

opment coo- ^^^^^ changes were taking place in her government and in 
264 B.C. the condition of her people. The number of magistrates 

was increasing as the duties of government grew more nu- 
merous arid difficult ; and the plebeians, who in the begin- 
ning were excluded from office and from public influence, 
and even lacked the protection of the laws, gradually won 
equality in all respects with the patricians themselves. 
The founding In 509 B.C., the monarchy had given way to the republic. 
° ^^-^^ Thou2[h all the citizens without distinction of rank had 

lie, 509 B.C. o 

P. 37. joined in expelling the king, the nobles profited most by 

P. 24. the change ; for as they alone could hold priesthoods and 

offices and sit in the senate, they inherited all the authority 
of the monarch ; and the great patricians who composed 
the senate built up the new form of government chiefly 
The consuls, in their own interest. As they had failed to control the 
P- 37- life-long king, they substituted in his place two consuls — 

colleagues — with equal power, elected annually by the as- 
sembly. Selected generally from the senate, and returning 
to it at the close of their year of office, these magistrates pre- 
ferred to serve that body rather than the people. As each 
consul had a right to intercede against any public action of 
the other, and so bring it to naught, the two rulers, like the 
Spartan kings, by mutually checking one another, hindered 

66 



Consuls 



67 



Livy ii. 8 ; 
Plutarch, 
Poplicola, II. 



their office from growing all-powerful to the detriment of Botsford, 
the senate. The consuls enjoyed most of the authority of ^^^^'^^' P- ^^• 
the king together with his trappings and attendants, as the 
curule chair ^ and the lictors. A 
law said to have been passed 
in the first year of the repub- 
lic compelled them in capital 
cases to grant an appeal to the 
assembly ; ^ over the soldiers 
in the field, however, they ex- 
ercised the same power as the 
king had possessed. The lic- 
tors, accordingly, who accom- 
panied the consul to war, still 
carried his axes in their bun- 
dles of rods as a sign of his 
unlimited authority ; but on re- 



turning with him to the city, 
they removed the axes from 
the rods, in order to show 
that he was no longer absolute 
master. 




P. 27. 



Curule Chair and Fasces 

(Relief on a cippus, Avignon.) 



Instead of dividing between them the duties of their Alternate 
office, the consuls usually took turns in managing the gov- 
ernment for periods of a month each ; while one discharged Dionysius v. 
the functions of the office and had the lictors in attendance, ^• 
the other through his right of veto interfered at pleasure. 

1 Cf. p. 26. The curule magistrates were those who sat in curule 
chairs. In the republican period they were the consuls, the dictator, 
the censors, the proetors, and the curule xdiles. If a man elected to 
one of these offices was not already a noble, the position ennobled him 
and all his descendants ; p. 80. 

■^ This was the Valerian Law. It is douljlful whether it was passed 
so early. 



6^ 



Plebeian Rig J its 



The dictator. 

Cicero, Re- 
public, ii. 32; 
Dionysius v. 
73 ff. 



Assistants of 
the consuls. 

P. 27. 



Changes in 
religion. 

P. 27 ff. 



Livy ii. 2. 



All this has reference to the administration of the city. The 
command of the army usually alternated daily ; and even 
when it was necessary to divide the forces, each was still at 
liberty to check the plans of the other. Often in dangerous 
wars or seditions this double rule was a disadvantage to the 
state. In such a case, at the request of the senate, one 
of the consuls nominated a dictator, who, placing the state 
under martial law, ruled with absolute power. He appointed 
a master of horse to command the cavalry, and either sus- 
pended the ordinary magistrates or retained them as his 
assistants. His term was limited to six months ; and it was 
an honor to him to bring the government safely through the 
crisis and resign his command within the fewest possible 
days. 

The consuls, who were the only magistrates of the early 
republic, had assistants like those of the king. Two quaes- 
tors, appointed by them, kept the treasury in the temple of 
Saturn in the Forum. Two other quaestors detected crimes, 
and two judges of treason — duoviri perduellionis — tried 
cases of treason and other grave offences against the state, 
while a single judge sufficed for private cases. The quaestors 
served for a year ; the consuls selected judges for trials 
as they arose... There was another important official, the 
city warden — prcefectus ui-bis — whom the consuls ap- 
pointed to take charge of the administration during their 
absence. 

The supervision of the state religion passed from the 
king, not to the consuls, but to the chief pontiff,- who ap- 
pointed the Vestals, and the individual priests, including the 
." sacrificial king " — rex sacroriim — now instituted to per- 
form that part of the public worship which the king had 
attended to in person, in order that the gods might not 
miss their customary offerings. This priest-king, in title the 



Comitia Centuriata 69 

first man in the state, was the weakest in real power, as he 
could hold no pohtical office. 

All important places of honor and trust — military, politi- The senate, 
cal, and religious — were filled by patricians, especially by 
senators. Now enlarged to three hundred members, the Pp. 3, 25. 
senate continued to exercise all the functions it had per- 
formed under the king. It even gained by the downfall of 
royalty ; for the consuls felt themselves under greater obli- 
gations to consult it on important questions and to abide by 
its decisions. A body composed of members for life, who 
were taken from the leading famihes and were men of expe- 
rience and ability, must have been more influential than the 
consuls, who at the close of their year of office could be 
called to account for their administration. As the senate 
controlled both the magistrates and the assembly, it was the 
chief power in the republic. 

In place of the old gathering of the curiae, a new assembly The comitia 
— the comitia centuriata — gradually grew up. During the c^'^^^"^*^- 
first half-century of the republic, Rome was constantly at p. 40. 
war with her neighbors. Every year the army was in the 
field ; and the commanders in their mihtary cloaks ruled 
the city from their tents. They called to their council of 
war the officers of their staff ; often, too, the six centuries 
of patrician knights ; and sometimes assembled the entire P. 33 f. 
army, that the soldiers might hear their plans. In this 
council of war and army muster lay the beginning of the 
comitia centuriata. We shall not attempt to follow the 
steps by which this assembly grew ; it is enough to know 
that after years of development it contained eighteen cen- 
turies of cavalry, eighty centuries of the first or wealthiest ■ Livy i. 43. 
class, twenty of the second, third, and fourth classes respec- 
tively, twenty-eight of the fifth class, and seven of musicians, 
workmen, and others exempt from regular service in the 



;o 



Plebeian Rights 



Voting. 

Dionysius 
iv. 20. 



ranks — in all, a hundred and ninety- three.^ The centuries 
of which this assembly was composed did not necessarily 
contain a hundred men each, but were voting units varying 
in size. A century of juniors was larger than one composed 
of seniors, while that of the proletarians — the landless — 
was by far the largest of all. At some time in the early 
republic the comitia centuriata, thus organized, took the 
place of the comitia curiata. Thereafter the centuries, 
meeting in the Campus Martius outside the city, elected the 
magistrates, heard appeals in capital cases, voted on propo- 
sals for laws and for wars, and ratified the treaties made by 
their commanders. 

The knights voted first, then the five classes in their order 
till a majority was reached for or against the proposition. If 
the knights and the highest class, who together formed the 
majority of centuries, agreed, they decided the question, so 
that the voting proceeded no farther. It rarely happened 
that all the centuries were called upon to give their votes. 



1 Note Juniors 

(17-46 years) 

I. Class 40 centuries 



II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 



10 
10 
10 

84 



Cavalry 

Substitutes for the killed and wounded 

Musicians and workmen 

Proletarians 



Seniors 
(above 46 years) 



. . . . 40 centuries 
. . . . 10 
. . . . 10 " 
. . . . 10 " 
.... 14 " 
84 

168 centuries 
18 - " 
2 " 

4 
I 

Total 193 centuries 

It is to be noted that the Servian army of two legions contained but 
six centuries of cavalry and the eighty-four centuries of junior infantry. 
The remaining twelve centuries of cavalry were added long after the begin- 
ning of the republic, and the seniors, substitutes, etc., were organized in 
centuries merely for voting purposes. 



Roman Assemblies 71 

The comitia curiata continued to meet to confer the im- The comitia 
perium upon the newly elected magistrates and to attend to 
other such formalities. It had no longer a real authority and P. 26. 
was generally ill attended ; thirty lictors cast the votes of the 
curiae, and three augurs were present to see that the rehgious 
ceremonies were duly performed. 

In the comitia curiata all had an equal vote ; but the Ser- The two as- 
vian reorganization of the army wrought a great change : the ^^"^ ^^^ 
rich, who in the new army equipped themselves with the P. 34. 
strongest and most expensive weapons, insisted on having 
more power in the assembly than those who carried light 
arms or were altogether exempt from service on account 
of poverty. By introducing privileges graded according to 
wealth and military equipment, the new assembly elevated 
the rich and degraded the poor. 

In estimating the political importance of any Roman The impor- 
assembly, however, the question as to who attended or how Roman as- 
they voted is secondary. We must chiefly bear in mind sembiy. 
that the presiding magistrate alone had the right to propose 
measures and to present candidates for election ; that he and 
those he invited monopolized the speaking ; that the common 
members had merely the right to vote. Then if the result 
displeased the magistrates or the nobles, they could annul it 
by having the augurs declare that some rehgious rite con- 
nected with the business had not been duly observed, '^ or the 
senate could refuse its sanction. ' This applies to elections 
as well as to laws and other resolutions. In contrast with liotsford, 

the Athenian assembly, that of Rome continued to the end <'"'''''-'^^'- P- 

176. 
dependent on the will of the senate and magistrates. The 

difference between Athenian and Roman constitutional his- 
tory hinges on this point. 

^ The plebeian assembly, huwever, was free from the auspiees ; p. 75. 



^2 Plebeiaji Rights 

The piebe- ,In most respects the common people lost by the overthrow 



lans 



of monarchy. Especially the later kings, while striving to 
Dionysius vi. repress the growing power of the patricians, protected the 
'h d ^^^" pooJ" ^iid freed many of them from clientage, assuring them 
Zati;, p. 88. justice in the courts of law and shielding them from the 
oppression of the nobles and the exactions of landlords. 
Accordingly there may be some truth in the story that as 
long as Tarquinius Superbus lived, the patricians treated the 
plebeians with great kindness, but began to oppress them as 
soon as they received news of his death. Now that all fear 
of a relapse to the monarchy was at an end, and the poor no 
longer had a champion, the patricians began to reduce the 
P. 24. small farmer to the condition of client from which the kings 

had freed him. They exacted illegal or excessive rents ; 
arrears they regarded as debts bearing heavy interest. The 
creditor had a legal right to seize the delinquent debtor and 
his children, to hold them as slaves till they had worked off 
the debt, or to sell them into actual servitude to foreigners. 
A harsh creditor sometimes threw his debtors into his private 
prison and scourged or otherwise maltreated them in the 
hope of influencing their kinsmen to redeem them. Livy, 
the historian, tells us that once " a certain aged man ran 
into the Forum with all the badges of his miseries upon him. 
His clothes were squalid, his pale emaciated body was still 
Livy ii. 23. more shocking, while his long beard and hair gave him a 
wild, savage look. In spite of his wretchedness, people rec- 
ognized him as a centurion and pityingly spoke of the dis- 
tinctions he had gained in war. He himself showed a breast 
scarred in honorable battles. When asked whence came 
that wretched garb and that ghastly appearance, he said to 
the crowd which had gathered about him ' While I served 
in the Sabine War, the enemy pillaged my land, burned my 
house, and drove my cattle away. I borrowed money to pay 



Plebeian Tribunes 73 

my taxes ; the debt increased till it robbed me of my fore- 
fathers' estate, and then the mischief reached my body, for 
my creditor put me not into slavery but into a house in 
which he scourges and slays his victims.' He then showed 
his back disfigured by fresh blows." Though the debt came 
probably not from taxes, which were light in early times, but 
from the exactions of landlords, we may believe that Livy First seces- 
has given us a true picture of the miseries of the poor. The ^J^^J^ ^_ 
people revolted against such injustice ; the whole army, de- 493 b.c. 
serting the commanders, marched off in good order to a hill 
afterward known as the Sacred Mount, and threatened to 
found a new city there, which should be free from patrician 
control. They had selected as their future country the land Varro, De 
beyond the Anio recently won from the enemy and admitted ^^"^"^ ^°^- 

. . . Una, V. 81. 

as the twenty-first tribe, — the first tribe which had not fallen 

under the rule of the lords. The senate, helpless without 

the support of the plebeian army, sent them an ambassador. 

At this time the Romans knew nothing of a written con- The tribunes 

stitution or even of written laws. Accordingly, though the ° e p e s, 

493 ^-C. 
patricians were willing to grant concessions, it did not occur 

to them to draw up a " charter of liberties " for the plebe- 
ians. Instead of this the government made a treaty with Livy i. 33; 
them, which assured them the protection they needed. By ^o^ysius vi. 
the terms of this agreement the plebeians were to have two 
annual officers of their own, called tribunes, whose persons 
were to be sacred and who were to protect all plebeians who 
felt themselves mistreated or oppressed. Any person, even 
a consul, who injured a tribune or hindered him in the exer- 
cise of his duties, might be slain by any one as a man 
accursed. Usually, however, an aggrieved tribune con- 
tented himself with inflicting a milder penalty, as a fine or 
imprisonment. The law forbade the tribune to be absent 
from the city over night and compelled Mm to leave his 



74 



Plebeian Rights 



The organi- 
zation of the 
plebs. 



Dionysius \i. 
89. 



door open always, that the injured and oppressed might 
find refuge with him at any hour. 

The plebeians had two other officers named aediles, who 
were stewards of the temple of Ceres recently built at the 
foot of the Averitine. The worship of Ceres in this temple 

was an imitation of 
that of the Greek 
Demeter, and was 
performed in the 
Greek language by 
priestesses from Na- 
ples. iVs the goddess 
of agriculture Ceres 
blessed the farmers, 
their fields, and their 
produce. The estates 
of those who offended 
the tribunes became 
her property. The 
plebeians had not 
only their rehgious 
worship, but also an 
assembly which they 
could control. In 
the curice under the 
presidency of the 
tribunes they elected 
officers and passed resolutions, which were binding only on 
themselves. With their religious and political organization 
they maintained the liberties they had and gradually gained 
more rights. 

The plebeians soon found an earnest helper in one of the 
patricians, Spurius Cassius, the most eminent statesman of 




Ceres 
(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



Comitia Tribiita 75 

his time. While he was consul, in 486 B.C., he proposed The agrarian 
an agrarian law, the contents of which we do not know. He cassius^^^G^ 
may have wished to take some of the public land from the e.g. 
rich, who were holding it, and to distribute it among the P. 40. 
poor ; or he may have aimed to give the peasants a better p. 72. 
title to their lands. The proposal never became a law ; 
either it did not pass the assembly or the senate refused 
to sanction it. The patricians asserted that he had offered 
the measure merely to win popularity, — that his real object 
was to make himself king. When, therefore, his term of 
office expired, the quaestors prosecuted him for treason, 
and he was condemned to death. 

The fate of Cassius shows how helpless the plebeians still The law of 
were and how strong were their oppressors. Though by lero^^^^Bc' 
means of their auspices the nobles could not control the 
plebeian assembly, they with their clients attended the 
meetings to impede the business. Among these depend- 
ents were many who owned no land. To destroy the 
influence of the latter class, Pubhhus Volero, a tribune 
in 471 B.C., induced the senate and the assembly of centuries 
to pass a law which provided that the plebeian comitia p. 73. 
should vote by tribes, each of the twenty-one tribes to cast 
a single vote. As only landowners were enrolled in the 
tribes the landless were excluded from the assembly. The Liwiii. 30; 

newly organized gathering, called the coitiitia taibuta, had as ^lonysms x. 

30. 
yet no authority over the state, but met simply for the trans- 
action of plebeian business. In the same year the number Diodoms xi. 
of tribunes was doubled, and somewhat later was increased ^^* 
to ten. 

Hitherto we have thought of the tribunes as protectors of The country 

the commons without distinction ; officially henceforth they J.^ ^-Jg'Jjs ^ 
represented rather the country plebeians, who owned land, 

and who through their tribal assembly were to gain great ^ 



76 



Plebeian Rights 



The struggle 
for written 
laws, 462- 

452 B.C. 
P. 24. 

Cicero, Re- 
public, ii. 
36 f ; Livy iii. 
9 ff; Diony- 
sius X. I ff. 



political influence. The landless, on the contrary, consist- 
ing chiefly of city plebeians, remained inferior ; for they 
lacked the means of making their wishes known and felt. 
The two branches of the plebs often conflicted, and states- 
men found it difficult to harmonize them in the interest of 
reform. 

Up to this time the laws were unwritten. The patricians, 
who were alone acquainted with them, handed them down 
orally from father to son. This exclusive knowledge they 
used for the oppression of the commons ; the patrician 
judge decided cases in favor of men of his own rank, and 
no plebeian could quote the law as proof of the injustice. 
In 462 B.C. Gains Terentilius, a tribune, began to urge the 
codification of the laws in the interest of the class he repre- 
sented. Though the patricians were successful in opposing 
him, the tribunes of the following years, taking up his cause, 
carried on the struggle without interruption. Their aims 
were heartily favored by one of the patricians, Appius 
Claudius, a man of rare intelligence and ability.^ Under 
the influence of Appius and the tribunes the senate }delded, 
and sent a committee to some of the Greek states of Italy 
to examine their codes of law, the earliest and most famous 
of which was that of Zaleucus, the Locrian. It is possible 
that this committee went even to Athens to look over the 
laws of Solon, some of which were still in force. On their 
return, the consul Sestius, with the consent of the senate, 
offered to the centuries a bill which provided that ten men 
— decemvi7'i — with the power of consuls, should b'e elected 
for the purpose of writing the laws, and that during their 
term of one year they should have absolute control of the 



Li\'7 iii. 31 ; ^ The story of the decemvirs as told by the ancient writers is 

Dionysius x. undoubtedly a political falsehood. The narrative given in this book 
51. aims to present the few known facts in their true light. ' 



"Botsford, 
Greece, p. 32, 



The decem- 
virs, 451- 
449 B.C. 



Decemvirs yy 

government, all other offices, including the tribunate of the The first 
plebs, being suspended. With the support of Claudius, ^^^^' 
consul-elect, the bill became a law. Though plebeians 
were eligible to the new board of ten, the assembly elected 
only patricians, among them Claudius. " He desired to Dionysius x. 
make such laws for his country as should bring peace and 54' 
concord ; he wished to teach the citizens by his own exam- 
ple to look upon the republic as one body." As he was the 
ablest of the decemvirs, and the only man among them with 
a well-considered plan, all looked to him as the head of 
that body. Before the year ended they had engraved ten 
tables of the law, which, after ratification by the senate and 
people, they set up in the Forum, where all could read 
them. 

As they had not finished writing the laws and as their The second 
government gave satisfaction to all alike, it was decided to 
elect decemvirs for the following year. Some of the patri- 
cians wished even to continue this form of government in- 
definitely, as it would rid them of the troublesome tribunes 
and would assure to their rank the control of the govern- 
ment. Assenting in the main to this proposition, Claudius 
determined nevertheless that the plebeians should have rep- 
resentatives on the board. He favored especially the mer- 
cantile and industrial classes, and undoubtedly hoped to see 
Rome a great centre of trade and traffic, like Corinth or 
Syracuse. He wished to engrave on the following tables 
certain laws beneficial to these classes, especially some 
regulations of weights and measures, of coinage and the 
calendar. Presiding over the assembly which chose new 
decemvirs, he secured, accordingly, his own reelection, and 
filled the remaining places with men who shared his views, 
— three, possibly five, of whom were plebeians. His man- 
agement of the elections, together with his radical commer- 



78 



Plebeian Rig J its 



Political 
falsehoods. 



The over- 
throw of the 
decemvirs, 
449 B.C. 



cial policy, roused much ill feeling. All the conservative 
patricians now began to oppose him bitterly. By insisting 
further that intermarriage between the two ranks should be 
prohibited by a law of the tables, as it had always been 
forbidden by custom, he angered the richer plebeian 
families, who were now seeking alliance by marriage with 
the nobles. In support of their natural leaders the peas- 
ants turned against Claudius, who henceforth had only the 
city plebs and a few liberal patricians to rely upon. As the 
senate and people refused, accordingly, to consider the two 
tables engraved in the second year, Claudius, with his col- 
leagues, determined to remain in office till they secured the 
ratification ; for the constitution compelled no magistrate 
to retire against his will. Hereupon their enemies accused 
them of acting like tyrants and of attempting to maintain 
themselves in power for life. There is a story, undoubtedly 
invented by the aristocrats, that these magistrates induced 
some soldiers to murder a certain ex-tribune, Sicinius, for 
stirring up strife against them. Another stor}^, equally 
improbable, represents Claudius as seized with an unholy 
passion for Virginia, a plebeian girl. To get her into his 
power, it is said that he adjudged her as a slave to one 
of his clients, and that the father, to save his child from 
dishonor, killed her with a knife. Indignation aroused by 
these acts is given as the cause of the overthrow of the 
decemvirs. It is far easier, however, to believe that these 
stories are aristocratic falsehoods for blackening the mem- 
ory of the decemvirs than it is to imagine that the man who 
gave his country the priceless treasure of just laws could be 
himself a monster of injustice and cruelty. 

In fact, the overthrow of the decemvirs resulted from 
political feelings excited by their plans of reform. Inflamed 
by the ex-tribunes, the plebeians seceded again to the 



Valerian-Horatian Lazvs 79 

Sacred Mount, and thus compelled the senate to depose P. 73. 
the decemvirs contrary to law. Claudius and one of his 
colleagues were thrown into prison, where they were prob- 
ably murdered ; the other members of the board fled into 
exile. Then Valerius and Horatius, consuls in 449 B.C., 
secured the ratification of the two tables, apparently after 
having made some alterations in them. The prohibition 
of intermarriage between the ranks remained unchanged. 
With this exception the laws of the Twelve Tables equalized 
the private rights of all and continued to be the fountain Livy iii. 34. 
of justice for centuries. As a part of their education the 
boys even of Cicero's time had to commit them to memory, Cicero, z,awj, 
— a text-book more useful than entertaining. "• 4- ^s- 

Valerius and Horatius, who were popular with the peas- The Valerian- 
ants, easily reconciled the lower classes to the patricians L^^g 
by passing a law which provided that, with the previous e.g. 
consent of the senate, the resolutions of the comitia tributa P. 75- 
should be binding on the whole people. As the organiza- 
tion and, up to this time, the presiding officers were plebeian, 
the acts of the tribal assembly expressed the will of the infe- Dionysius xi. 
rior rank. Soon, however, state officers began to call this '^^' 
comitia for the election of such minor officials as the quaestors, 
and occasionally for other business. About the same time it increased 
was agreed that the tribunes should place their bench at the P^^^^'' ° ^'^® 

tribunes. 

door of the senate-house, through which they could listen to 
the proceedings within. Thereafter if the senate passed an 
act to which they had no objection, they signed it, thus 
abandoning their right to oppose it in the assembly. But 
if the consul proposed a measure which displeased them, 
their " Veto,'' shouted through the door, caused the meas- 
ure to be dropped. This simple word of theirs prevailed 
against the magistrates when in the city, and against the 
senate and assemblies. They could close the treasury 



8o 



Plebeian Rights 



The Canu- 
leian Law, 

445 B.C. 
Livv iv. 1-6. 



P. 29. 



The consular 
tribunes, 
444-367 B.C. 
Livy iv. 6 ; 
Dionysius xi. 
53-61. 



Polybius vi. 
53- 



by placing their seal on the door; a single tribune 
could stop the entire machinery of government. With 
this absolute power of prohibition as their weapon, the 
leaders of the plebs resumed the struggle for equality of 
rights. 

A few years after the consulship of Valerius and Horatius, 
a law" of the tribune Canuleius permitted intermarriage be- 
tween the two ranks. This reform directly affected only 
the tribunician famihes, — that is, those influential plebeian 
families which had already an hereditary claim upon the 
tribuneship. Though long before the passage of this law 
they had wished to secure the right to hold state offices, 
a rehgious difficulty stood in the way ; for Jupiter, through 
the auspices, revealed his will only to those of noble blood. 
But by intermarriage with this especially privileged class, 
the plebeian leaders had hoped to come into favor with the 
gods and thus to break down the religious barrier in their 
way to office. They reasoned rightly ; for immediately after 
the passage, of the Canuleian law the patricians formed a 
plan of admitting them to office, though not to the consul- 
ship. It was agreed that whenever the senate so deter- 
mined, mihtary tribunes with consular power, — or more 
briefly, consular tribunes, — should be elected for the year 
in place of consuls, and that both ranks should be alike 
eligible to this office. Their reason for this arrangement is 
clear : the consuls were highly honored magistrates, who at 
the close of their term became influential members of the 
senate. Besides other distinctions, they and their descend- 
ants enjoyed the privilege of setting up in their halls waxen 
masks of their ancestors and of having these masks worn 
in procession at their family funerals. This peculiar form 
of ancestor worship distinguished the nobles from the com- 
mons. In other words, the consulship ennobled forever the 



Censors 8 1 

family of the occupant.-^ Now as the miUtary tribunate, 
even when invested with the consular power, conferred no 
such honor, the patrician senate, in occasionally substituting 
this magistracy for the consulship, and in opening it to ple- 
beians, granted them office without nobihty. The number 
of consular tribunes ranged from three to six. For nearly 
half a century, however, the patricians, by influence and 
intrigue, prevented the plebeians from holding this office. 
Most of the commons even preferred patrician magistrates, 
as they lacked confidence in the military talent of their own 
leaders. The plebeians who were ambitious for office found, 
accordingly, that the consular tribunate brought them no 
advantage. 

All the duties of the consuls did not pass to their sub- The censors, 
stitutes, the consular tribunes ; for soon after the institution '^'^^ ' ' 
of the latter office the Romans created two new patrician Livy iv. 8. 
magistrates, the censors, whose chief duty was to make a 
register of the citizens and their property and to assign each 
man to his tribe and class, — a work hitherto performed 
by the consuls. They also farmed the taxes and attended 
to the erection of public buildings. Like the consuls, the 
censors were chosen by the comitia centuriata, and were P. 26. 
curule magistrates, though without the imperium. Elected 
at intervals, usually of five years, they were required to com- 
plete the census within eighteen months after their entrance 
into office, unless the senate granted them an extension 
of time. This office was instituted not only to make the 
census more regular and more effective, but also to debar 
consular tribunes, who might be plebeians, from the im- 
portant functions which the censors assumed. 

Soon after the institution of the censorship, there was a 

^ With the exception of the consular tribunate, all curule offices con- 
ferred nobility; p. 67, n. i. 
G 



d>2 



Plebeian Rights 



Spurius 
Maelius. 

Dionysius 
xii. 4 ; Livy 
iv. 12 ff. 



The military 
quxstors, 

421 B.C. 
Livy iv. 43. 

P. 68. 



famine in Rome ; and with the petty means he employed, 
the patrician supervisor of the market found it impossible 
to reheve the distress. In these circumstances Spurius 
Maelius, a wealthy plebeian, with his own money, bought 
up grain from the neighboring states and distributed it free 
among the suffering. His generosity made him so popular 
that he might easily have won the consular tribunate, or 
perhaps even the consulship, had he offered himself as a 
candidate. The patricians, however, prevented this by 
charging him with attempting to make himself king; it was 
with this end in view, they asserted, that he had striven for 
popularity. Though the charge was utterly groundless, the 
senate proclaimed him a traitor, whom any one might kill 
as a man accursed. Servilius Ahala, a patrician, undertook 
the deed. Meeting Maelius in the Forum, he called him 
aside under pretence of wishing to speak with him, and 
then stabbed him with the dagger he had concealed be- 
neath his arm. The Romans of after time looked upon 
Maelius as a despicable traitor and Servilius as a citizen 
whom all should imitate. 

Notwithstanding such misfortunes to their party, the 
plebeian leaders began to meet with greater success in 
their struggle for office. In 421 B.C. two mihtary quaes- 
tors were instituted to attend to the financial business of 
the army.^ At the same time it was agreed that plebeians 
also should be eligible to the office of quaestor, whether 
civil or military ; and some years later they actually suc- 
ceeded in filling three of the four places with men of their 
own rank. In 400 B.C. they elected their first consular 
tribunes. Less successful in their later contests for this 
office, however, the leaders of the commons shifted their 

1 Other quaestorships were afterward instituted to manage the 
finances of the provinces; p. 131. 



Economic Crisis 



83 



tactics and demanded not only that the consulship should 
be thrown open to them, but that one of the places should 
be filled exclusively by plebeians. In order to gain their 
object it was necessary for them to win the support of the 
poorer class, who had little preference as to the chief 
magistrates, or who even favored patricians. Fortunately The economic 
for the leaders of the plebs the sack of Rome by the Gauls 
made the common people still poorer ; the rebuilding of p. 45. 
the city and the repair of farms, after the Gallic devasta- 




An As 

(A bronze coin of the fourth century B.C., weighing 105 oz. Front, head of Janus ; 
back, prow of a galley.) 

tion, involved many in debt. The common people fell into 
great distress for want of means to live and to pay what 
they owed. Their condition was made harder by the great 
economic crisis through which Rome was now passing. 
Down to the time of the decemvirs, she had no money 
whatever ; her citizens bartered their wares and their farm 
produce ; their standards of value were sheep, oxen, and 
copper. Apparently the decemvirs introduced the idea 
of coinage from Greece ; at least it came in their time. 
The government began to issue a copper coin, termed as, 



84 Plebeian Rig J its 

which weighed a pound. Henceforth values were reckoned 
in coin, and creditors demanded it in payment of debts. 
For a long time, however, money was scarce, so that the 
poor could find none with which to settle their accounts.^ 
The tribunes of the plebs, ready to bargain with their 
people, promised them a law for the relief of debtors, in 
return for support in their contest for political honors. 
The public The people were discontented, too, with the way in which 
the government disposed of the public land. " The Romans 
as thev subdued successivelv the Italian nations in war, 
seized a part of their lands and built towns there, or estab- 
lished their own colonies in those already existing, and 
Appian, Civil used them as garrisons. Of the land acquired by war they 
Wars, 1, 7. assigned the cultivated part forthwith to settlers, or leased 
or sold it. Since they had no leisure as yet to allot the 
part which then lay desolated by war, — generally the greater 
part, — they proclaimed that meantime those who were ^^'ill- 
ing to work it might do so for a share of the yearly crops, 
— rendering to the government a tenth of the grain and a 
fifth of the fruit. From those who kept flocks was required 
a share of the animals, both oxen and small cattle. . . . 
But the rich, getting possession of the greater part of the 
undistributed lands, and being emboldened by the lapse of 
time to believe that they should never be dispossessed, and 
adding to their holdings the small farms of their poor neigh- 
bors, partly by purchase and partly by force, came to culti- 
vate vast tracts instead of single estates." 
Need of an It was proposed to limit the amount of public land which 

agrananiaw. ^ ^^^^ might occupy, that the surplus might be distributed 
among the poor. Though the tribunician families them- 
selves held much of this land, they were willing to sacrifice 

1 For the influence of this economic crisis on the condition of the 
poor, I am indebted to the investigation of Mr. David Taggart Clark. 



L icin ian-Sextiaii L a zvs 



85 



a part of it if for so doing the poor would help them gain 
the consulship and, through it, the nobihty. Evidently they 
were making use of the suffering and the discontent of the 
people to further their selfish ambition ; for when Marcus 385-384 e.g. 
Manlius, a noble-hearted patrician, a man who stood high Livyvi. iiff. 
in the esteem of all, tried by his private means to reheve 
the distress and set before 
the rich an example of 
personal kindness and of 
benevolence, the tribunes 
prosecuted him for aiming 
to make himself king and 
had him put to death as a 
traitor. They were deter- 
mined that none but them- 
selves should aid the com- 
mons and so reap the 
rewards of popularity. 

The bill which combined 
political with economic re- 
forms originated with the 
tribunes Licinius and Sex- 
tius, who are said to have 
urged it for ten successive 
years. When the patricians 
objected that no plebeian 
had yet filled a priestly 
office or had taken the 

auspices, the two tribunes answered their argument by 
securing the passage of a law which raised the number 
of " Keepers of the Sibylline Books " from two to ten and P. 31 
provided that five should be plebeians. As the patricians 
could no longer exclude the plebeians from the consulship 




Ai'oi.Lu WITH A Lyre 

(National Museum, Naples.) 



The Licinian- 
Sextian 
Laws, 367 

B.C. 

Livy vi. 34- 
42; Plutarch, 
Camillits, 39- 
42. 



S6 



Plebeian Rights 



(A jugerum 
is a little less 
than two- 
thirds of an 
acre.) 



The praetor 
and the cu- 
rule jediles, 
366 B.C. 



The.new no- 
bility. 



on religious grounds, they yielded, and the Licinian-Sextian 
bill became a law, in 367 B.C. Its provisions were as 
follows : — 

There shall be no more consular tribunes, and one of the 
two consuls shall henceforth be a plebeian. 

Interest on debts shall be deducted from the principal, 
and the balance of the debt shall be paid in three equal 
annual instalments. 

No one shall occupy more than five hundred jugera of 
the public land. 

No one shall pasture more than a hundred cattle or five 
hundred sheep on the public land. 

When, according to this law, the tribune Sextius was 
chosen first plebeian consul for the following year, the 
senate refused to sanction the election till the people had 
consented to the institution of three new patrician magis- 
trates : the prsetor, who was to be judge in civil cases and 
to have command of the city during the absence of the 
consuls,^ and two curule aediles, who were to supervise the 
streets and public buildings, the markets, and the public 
games. 

The effect of the Licinian-Sextian law as to the consul- 
ship was gradually to enlarge the nobility ; henceforth it 
consisted not only of patricians but also of all plebeians who 
were admitted to a curule office — themselves called " new 
men " — together with their descendants. As a rule wealthy 
plebeians were chosen ; and the patricians, who still exer- 



1 When, in 242 B.C., a second prsetorship was instituted, the distinc- 
tion first arose between the prcstor urbanus and the prcetor peregrinus. 
The first had charge of cases which concerned citizens only, while the 
second attended to those which affected an alien. Other praetorships 
were afterward added for the government of provinces; p. 130. The 
office was first occupied by a plebeian in 337 B.C. ; p. 88. 



New Nobility 



87 



cised great influence at the elections, preferred to admit to 
the nobility men who shared their political views and who 
were closely connected with them in friendship or by mar- 
riage. Thus the nobility had found a means of recruiting 
itself with fresh blood without disturbing its own unity. To 




iEsCULAPIUS 
(National Museum, Naples.) 

commemorate the harmony of the new arrangement, the 
aged Camillas founded a temple to Concordia at the end 
of the Forum beneath the CapitoHne Hill. 

Understanding that the fewer they were the more honor Aims of the 
would be theirs to enjoy, the nobles strenuously opposed the 
admission of new members. They preferred to have one 



new nobility. 



88 



Plebeian Rights 



The law of 
the tribune 
Genucius, 
342 B.C. 
Livy vii. 42. 



The assem- 
blies. 

Law of Pub- 
lilius Philo, 
339 B.C. 
P. 56. 
Livy viii. 12. 

Law of Hor- 
tensius, 
287 B.C. 
Livy 
(epitome) xi. 



of their number hold the consulship four or five times, and 
other high offices in addition, rather than to receive new men 
into their privileged society. But when a law was passed 
that no one should hold the same office within a period of 
ten years, or more than one office at a time, a greater num- 
ber of new men was necessarily elected, and, in consequence, 
the nobility became more representative of the people as a 
whole. Before the fourth century B.C. closed, plebeians had 
gained admission to all the curule offices and finally to the 
colleges of augurs and pontiffs. 

While the leaders of the plebs were winning political 
rights, the masses in their assemblies were striving for legal 
freedom from the control of the senate. A law of Publilius 
Philo, the famous plebeian general of whom we have heard, 
compelled the senators, before the voting began, to give 
their sanction — auctoritas — to the bills brought before 
the comitia centuriata ; and the Hortensian law of 287 B.C. 
probably made unnecessary the consent of the senate to 
measures brought by the tribunes before the assembly of 
tribes.^ Though one would naturally suppose that these 

1 Three laws passed at different times make the resolutions of the 
tribal assembly, or assemblies, binding on the people. 

I. The Valerian-Horatian law of 449 B.C. : " Whatevei' the plebs order 
in the tribal assembly shall be binding on all the people.^'' Livy iii. 55. 

Though it seems probable that the tribal assembly of this period 
included both ranks, the majority of members, the organization, and 
the presidency were plebeian ; hence, apparently, it was called an as- 
sembly of the plebs. 

IL The law of Publilius Philo, 339 B.C. : ** The orders of the plebs 
shall be binding on all the Romans^ Livy viii. 12. 

It seems probable that in the period between 449 and 339 B.C. the 
patricians ceased attending the tribal assembly when it was called by 
a tribune, and that the law here quoted made the acts of the exclu- 
sively plebeian assembly thus formed binding on all the Romans. This 
plebeian assembly is sometimes called a comitia tributa, sometimes 
merely a " council." The distinction between the tribal assembly of 



City Plebs " 89 

acts opened the way to hasty legislation, such was not the 
case. The tribunes were now usually nobles and had seats 
in the senate, which employed them accordingly as minis- 
ters for checking other officers and for bringing measures 
before the people. The tribal assembly, less cumbersome 
than that of the centuries, was far more convenient for leg- 
islation ; and in case a magistrate dared offer a resolution 
which the senate disapproved, it was generally easy to find 
a tribune to intercede against him and thus to prevent the 
measure from being put to vote. Rarely, therefore, did any 
one attempt to pass a law without the approval of the sen- 
ate. It speaks well for the ability of the senate that, while 
yielding legal claims to power, by moral force it acquired 
still greater authority, and that under its selfish though wise 
management, the democratic movement which began with 
the origin of the plebeian tribunate resulted in the more 
thorough establishment of aristocratic government. 

It is important to bear in mind that those plebeians who. The city 
since the beginning of the repubhc, were winning the right ^^^^^' 
to place men of their own rank in office and to make laws pp. 34, 75. 
in their own assembly were all landowners, who alone be- 
longed originally to the tribes. Excluded from the tribes, 
and consequently from the comitia tributa, were the vari- 



all the people and the council of the plebeians, — a distinction on 
which Mommsen lays great emphasis, — never was of practical im- 
portance. 

III. The Hortensian law, 287 B.C. : " The orders of the plcbs shall 
be binding on all the Romans.'''' Pliny, A^at. Hist. xvi. 37 ; GcUius 
XV. 27. 4 ; cf. Gains i. 2. 4. 

Probably this law, in its original form, made unnecessary the consent 
of the senate to the resolution of the plebeian assembly of tribes. 

Among the possible explanations of these laws, the one here offered 
seems to be most consistent with the known facts; cf, Botsford, Com- 
position of the Roman Assemblies, 



90 Plebeia7i Rights 

Appius Clau- ous classes of landless people : laborers for hire, tenants, 
dius Cascus, artisans, and tradesmen. But in 'x\2 B.C. Appius Claudius 

312 B.C. ' . . 

Csecus as censor enrolled these inferior citizens in the vari- 
ous tribes for the double purpose of giving them full politi- 
Diodorus xx. cal rights and of compelling them to serve in the army ; for 

36; Livy IX, ^j^g Second Samnite War was then at its crisis. It was at 

29, 30, 33 f, 

46. this time that he began the great military road from Rome 

p. 57. to Capua and a splendid aqueduct, which supplied his city 

with abundance of fresh water. These magnificent works, 
as well as his political reforms, greatly benefited the indus- 
trial and commercial classes. At the close of the war, how- 
ever, as the government no longer needed the military aid 
of the landless, the censor Fabius put them into the four 
city tribes, which he degraded by ordering them to vote 
The country last. Thus the possessors of land remained superior to 
plebsbecome ^hem in honor and in privileges. In contrast with this lower 

an aristoc- 

j. class of citizens, with the inhabitants of the municipia, with 

the Latins, and with the Italian allies, the members of the 

country tribes were themselves practically aristocrats inferior 

only to the knights and the senatorial nobility. 

Economic de- While the Romans were becoming masters of Italy and 

ve op^®^ ' improving their laws and their constitution, they were also 

450, 268 B.C. x:^^^ „„, growing richer. About the 

time of the decemvirs they 
* ^' B^^^f (v m\ "tJ ll±S^.rj^ began to coin bronze and 

long afterward silver. The 

nobles reaped the profits of 

A Denarius i 4. .. r 4-u j 

large tracts of the conquered 

(A silver coin struck soon after 268 B.C. 

Front, head of Roma; back, Castor and land and acquired a great 

Pollux on horseback.) 

number of slaves. After the 
state and the richer citizens alike had long accustomed 
themselves to the miserly habit of hoarding their wealth, 
Appius Claudius Csecus, the censor, set a generous example 





Citlture 



91 



of expending money on useful public works. Following 
him, the Romans improved the appearance of their city, 
especially by building many temples in the Greek style. 

But in their pursuit of wealth and power they had as yet Lackof cui- 
httle thought of cultivating their minds ; they possessed no ^^'^^' 
Hterature, and with the exception of their temples, no art ; 




Venus 

(National Museum, Naples. 



a few of them learned the Greek language, though for 
merely practical objects. Their slight advancement in cul- 
ture during this period came chiefly through contact with 
the Greeks of southern Italy and of Sicily, from whom they 
borrowed manners and customs. Adopting some deities 
from old Hellas, they built a temple to the prophet-god 



92 



Plebeimi Rights 



p. 28. 



The Romans 
under state 
discipline. 
Horace, 
Odes, iii. 6 ; 
cf. i. 12. 



27^ B.C. 



Frugality. 



P. 60. 



Valerius 
Maximus, 
IV. iv.6. II. 



Apollo, to Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, whom 
they identified with their garden-goddess Venus, and still 
later to yEsculapius, god of healing. This Greek influ- 
ence tended slightly to refine and to humanize the Romans, 
who were still a pious people with faith in their gods and 
in the ceremonies of their worship. 

Though poor and ignorant, the earliest Romans were dis- 
tinguished for patience and energy. " The sons of rustic 
warriors they, a manly breed, trained to turn the soil with 
Sabine hoe, and to cut and carry wood at a stem mother's 
bidding." Their virtue, the fruit of a simple life, increased 
in strength and in severity throughout the period. This 
growth was owing to the watch-care which the republican 
government exercised over the citizens. The magistrates 
had power to punish not only for crimes but for every of- 
fence against order, however slight, and even for immorality, 
includins^ lazv or luxurious habits. While all officers en- 
joyed this authority, it was the especial duty of the censors 
to see that every citizen subjected himself to the severe dis- 
cipline prescribed by the state. They could punish a man 
for negligence in cultivating his field or for spending too 
much on the funeral of a kinsman ; they expelled from the 
senate Publius Cornelius Rufinus, a man of high rank, for 
having in his house ten pounds of silver plate, whereas the 
law permitted him only eight ounces. 

Some of the most eminent men of the age were content 
with the frugal life of the peasant. One of them, Manius 
Curius Dentatus, who prepared his own food in wooden 
dishes, insisted that seven jugera of land were enough for 
any citizen. " At that time there was little money ; there 
were few slaves, seven jugera of land, poverty in families, 
funerals paid for by the state, and daughters without dowry ; 
but illustrious consulates, wonderful dictatorships, and 



Education 93 

countless triumphs, — such is the picture of these old 
times ! " 

The aim of education in the family and in public life was The results of 
to repress the freedom of the individual in the interest of ^j^^ 
the state, to make a nation of brave warriors and of dutiful 
citizens. Th^ highest results of this stern training were 
reached in the Samnite Wars, — a period known thereafter 
as the golden age of virtue and of heroism. A citizen of 
this time was, in the highest degree, obed'ient to authority, 
pious, frugal, and generally honest. But though he was 
willing to sacrifice his life for the good of the state, he was 
equally ready to enrich himself at the expense of his neigh- 
bors ; the wealthy did not hesitate to sell the poor into 
slavery for debt, till they were forbidden to do so by law. 
Their hard, stern souls knew neither generosity nor mercy. 
Severe toward the members of their family, cruel in the 
treatment of slaves, and in their business transactions 
shrewd and grasping, the Romans of the time, however 
admirable for their heroic virtues, were narrow, harsh, and 
unlovable. Greed was one of their strongest motives to 
conquest. Not for glory, — much less for the good of 
their neighbors, — did they extend their power over Italy; 
it was rather that more of the peasants might be supplied 
with farms and that the nobles might be given larger tracts 
of the public land and a greater number of places of honor 
and of profit to use and to enjoy. 

As long as they remained poor and under strict disci- can they en- 
pline, they were moral. In the following period they were ^^ tations 
to gain greater freedom from the control of their magistrates of wealth and 
and, at the same time, power and wealth. These new con- 
ditions were to put their virtue and even their government to 
the severest test. 



94 Plebeian Rights 

Sources 

Reading. The same as for the preceding chapter (p. 65) and in addition, 

Qic&co, Republic, ii. 31 ff; Diodorus xx. 36 (for Appius Qaudius 
Csecus) ; extracts from the Laws of the Twelve Tables. Howe, Studies 
in the Civil Law ^ App. A ; of. Botsford, Story of Kovie, ch. iv. 

Modern "Works 

Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. II, ch. i ; Taylor, Consti- 
tutional and Political History of Rome, chs. ii-v ; How and Leigh, 
History of Rome, chs. v, vi, viii, ix, xii ; Shuckburgh, History of Rome, 
chs. viii, xiii, xvi ; Fowler, City-State, chs. iv, vii ; Ihne, Early Rome, 
chs. x-xiv, xviii, xijc (to 390 B.C.); History of Rotne, bk. II. chs. i, ii, 
vii-xiii, xvii, xix ; bk. III. chs. ii, iii, vii, xi, xviii ; Mommsen, History 
of Rome, bk. II. chs. i-iii, viii, ix ; Duruy, History of Ro>ne, I. chs. vi, 
viii, ix, xii, xiii, xviii ; Nitzsch, Romische Reptiblik, i. pp. 45-130 
(suggestive) ; Botsford, Composition of the Roman Assemblies ; Muir- 
head, Roman Law, pts. i, ii ; Morey, Outlines of Roman Law, periods 
i, ii. 



I 



Longitude 20- 




THE EXPANSION 

OF XHE 

ROMAN POWER 

To the time of the Gracchi. 

SCALE OF MILES 



lOO 50 100 200 300 400 



For Chapters V, VI. 
For Italy see Page. I 



Roman Power in 264. B. C. 
Acquired 241-21S B. C- 
Acquired 201-133 B. C. 
' Allies of Rome in 133 B. C. 
Carthaginian Posessions 264 B. C. 



ENGaAVtt 3Y BORP^AY 4 CO., N.Y. 



r 

te. .. . 




-1 




^^M 




1^^^ 


m^^^ 




m 



Messana 

(Modern Messina.) 



CHAPTER V 

THE EXPANSION OF THE ROMAN POWER (264-133 B.C.) 
Second Period of the Republic — External History 

" Now, now our ears you pierce 
With clarions shrill, and trumpet's threatenings fierce, 

Now flashing arms affright 
Horses and riders scattering both in flight; 

Now do I seem to hear 
The shoutings of the mighty leaders near, 

And see them strike and thrust 
Begrimed with not unhonorable dust." 

— Horace, Odes, ii. i. 

The Phoenicians, who were famous for their navigation ThePhoeni- 
and commerce, once occupied a narrow strip of land along 
the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. With the instinct 
for trade natural to their race, they began early to explore Botsford, 
the shores and the islands of the Mediterranean ; and ^^^"' ^' ^' 
wherever convenient, they planted colonies as centres of 
traffic with the natives. One of the settlements, named Carthage. 
Carthage, on the African coast opposite Sicily, had a re- 
markably favorable situation ; for the country near it was 
exceedingly fertile, and it was conveniently located for 

95 



96 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



Botsford, 
Greece, 
P- 137- 



Rome and 
Carthage, 

509-264 B.C. 

P. 51. 
348 B.C. 



306 B.C. 



Polybius iii. 

25- 

P. 61 f. 

279 B.C. 



trade with the East and the West, and with Sicily and Italy. 
These advantages made Carthage wealthy and populous. 
Though the people of this city loved peace and preferred 
to devote their energies to trade, they were compelled to 
fight in order to maintain themselves against the warlike 
Greeks ; unwillingly, therefore, they became a military and 
an imperial power. Gathering mider their rule and pro- 
tection the various Phoenician colonies of the Mediterra- 
nean, — along the northern and northwestern coasts of Afi"ica, 
in western Sicily, in Sardinia, and even in Spain, — they 
created a great navy and a large army of mercenaries, with 
which they attempted, though in vain, to drive the Greeks 
from Sicily. While fighting against the Greeks they made a 
treaty with Rome, in 509 B.C. 

About a century and a half later, the city on the Tiber, 
while contending against the invading Gauls and against 
unfaithful allies, renewed her treaty with Carthage, though 
she was then too weak to forbid her more prosperous neigh- 
bor from plundering Latium and central Italy. However, 
when near the close of the Second Samnite War Rome 
showed herself the strongest power in Italy, it seems prob- 
able that a third treaty was made between the two states, 
according to which Carthage was to keep away from Italy 
and Rome from Sicily. Evidently each state now regarded 
the other as a dangerous rival; hence this jealous effort to 
prevent a collision. As the invasion of Italy and of Sicily 
by Pyrrhus menaced both powers alike, they made a defen- 
sive alliance against him ; but fear and jealousy prevented 
them from calling upon each other for help. When the 
great Epirot commander withdrew from Sicily, he is said 
to have exclaimed regretfully, " What a fair battle-field we 
are leaving to the Romans and the Carthaginians ! " — thus 
intimating that the Greeks of Sicily had ceased to be mas- 



Cartilage 97 

ters of their fate, and that Rome and Carthage would soon 

contend for the possession of this fertile island. The 

Phoenician city had been checked by the great rulers of 405-367 b.c. 

Syracuse, as Dionysius I, Timoleon, and Agathocles, but g ^l" ^^^~ 

she was now gaining ground in Sicily ; her conquest of the Botsford, 

whole island was merely a question of time. From Syra- ^^^^^^' pp- 

•^ ^ •'241 ff, 247 f. 

cuse and Messana, when taken, she would naturally pass 

over to Italy; indeed she had already threatened Rhe- 

gium and Tarentum. Rome, the protector of Italy, was 

nervously watching her rival's movements. 

An Asiatic race, the Carthaginians had not the capacity Character of 
of the Romans for self-government or the ability to govern ^j^i^ns 
others. Their political life was already corrupt ; they ground 
their subject communities with oppressive taxes and gave Polybius 
them no hope of ever obtaining equahty of rights. It was a '• 7^' 
government by capitalists and for capitalists maintained by 
bribery and force. Their religion, too, was inhuman and 
grossly immoral. Such being the case, it would have been 
unfortunate for any large part of Europe to fall permanently 
under their rule. By checking them in this direction, Rome 
was to do a good service to civihzation. 

Let us compare their resources. Though the govern- Resources of 
ments of both were aristocratic, that of Rome was in its full- carthage 
est vigor, while that of Carthage was beginning to decay, compared. 
With her magnificent navy Carthage controlled the sea. Polybius vi. 
Her wealth enabled her to enlist gigantic armies of merce- ^^ * 
naries, who, however brave in battle, often proved treacher- Polybius i. 
ous ; for they were attached to the city they served by no '^^' ^' 
tie of blood or patriotism. On the other hand Rome had 
but a few small ships at her command. Her soldiers, how- 
ever, though mere militia, were the hardiest and most 
stubborn fighters in the world, and still better, they were P. so- 
devoted to their country. In contrast with the oppressive 

H 



98 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



Pp. 63 f, 129, 
133- 



Immediate 
cause of the 
war. 

Polvbius i. 
7ff.' 



Pp. 76, 90. 



The First 
Punic War, 
264-241 B.C. 



tyranny which Carthage exercised over her empire, Italy 
was a strongly centraHzed federation, resting on the basis 
of common blood, — a system in which each community 
administered its own affairs, but all acknowledged Rome 
absolute mistress of their military resources. Carthage was 
more formidable, but it was a. question whether Rome 
could not endure the greater shock and the longer strain 
of war. 

The immediate cause of the first war between these two 
states was as follows. Some Campanian mercenaries, re- 
leased from the service of Syracuse, planned to seize by 
treachery the fair and wealthy Messana. Admitted as 
guests into the city, they killed or drove away the men, and 
divided the women, children, and property among them- 
selves. For a time the Mamertines — " sons of Mars " — as 
these robbers called themselves, enjoyed their ill-got homes ; 
but threatened by both Greeks and Carthaginians, they ap- 
pealed to Rome for aid on the ground of kindred blood. 
Although the senate felt it would be unjust to aid the Mam- 
ertines, it feared that if the Carthaginians should conquer 
them and gain control of all Sicily, they would not hesitate 
to lay hands on Italy. A less worthy motive to war was the 
desire of the senators to extend their power and with it their 
field for trade and speculation ; for the commercial spirit of 
the Claudian family had already seized nearly the whole aris- 
tocracy. When, therefore, the senate referred the question 
to the people, Appius Claudius Caudex, one of the consuls, 
by promising them lands in Sicily, persuaded them to vote 
aid to the Mamertines. Appointed commander, he skilfully 
brought his army into Messana, though the Syracusans and 
the Carthaginians were besieging it by land and sea. 

The Romans soon drove the besiegers away, and induced 
Hiero, king of Syracuse, to make a treaty according to 



First Punic War 99 

which he was to supply the Roman armies in Sicily with 
provisions. The cities of the interior readily yielded, as Poiybius i. 
they found greater security under Rome than either Syracuse ^^~^4- 
or Carthage had given them. And when the Romans had 
taken Agrigentum from the Carthaginians, they began to 262 b.c. 
entertain hopes of expelling their enemy altogether from 
the island. For this purpose it was necessary -to build a 
fleet, as Carthage with her navy not only protected the mari- 
time towns of Sicily but even ravaged the Italian coasts. 
Though the naval allies could furnish a few triremes, no one 
in Italy had yet attempted quinqueremes — vessels with five 
banks of oars — such as made up the strength of the 
enemy's navy. But using a stranded Carthaginian quin- poiybius i. 
quereme as a model, the Romans, with their usual courage 2° ^• 
and energy, began to build a fleet. While some were busy 
with this work, others trained the crews by having them sit 
on benches along the shore and practise rowing in the sand. 
When they had completed their fleet, they put to sea and 
engaged the enemy off Mylae, 260 B.C. Their ships were Battle of 
clumsy and they lacked skill in manoeuvring ; but they con- ^ ' ^ ° 
trived to board the enemy's vessels by means of a draw- 
bridge which each Roman ship carried at her prow. This 
machine they called a crow, from the iron spike in its 
extremity which grappled the enemy's deck. The naval 
tactics of the Carthaginians were of no avail ; for as the 
hostile fleets neared one another, the drawbridges fell, the 
Romans boarded, and overcame their foes with sword and 
spear, as in a land fight. The great victory which they 
gained increased their fervor for war. On the return of 
Gaius Duilius, the commander, Rome gave him an enthusi- Livy (epit- 
astic welcome as her first naval hero, and provided that °"^^^ ^^'"' 
musicians and torch-bearers should accompany him in the 
evening as he returned home from the senate. 



100 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



The Romans 
invade Libya. 

Polybius i. 
26 ff. 



256 B.C. 



Regulus. 



Cf. p. 61. 



250 B.C. 



Mission of 
Regulus, 
250 B.C. 



Livy (epit- 
ome) xviii. 



Horace, 
Odes, iii. 5. 



The Romans then conceived the idea of building- an 
enormous fleet, with which they hoped to carry the war into 
Libya and make Carthage fear for her own safety. This 
great armament, consisting of three hundred and thirty 
vessels carrying nearly a hundred and forty thousand men, 
defeated a still larger fleet of the enemy off Ecnomus, and 
afterward conveyed an army to Africa. There, under the 
consul Regulus, they gained victories and captured towns, 
till Xanthippus, a Lacedaemonian, taught the Carthaginians 
to offer battle in the plain, where they could use their ele- 
phants and their great force of cavalry to advantage. The 
result was the destruction of the Roman army and the 
capture of Regulus. The elephants wrought such havoc 
that the Romans dared not face them again for several 
years. Meantime their ignorance of navigation lost them 
two large fleets and thousands of Hves. Disheartened for a 
time, they were encouraged by a great victory at Panormus, 
in which Caecilius Metellus captured thirteen officers and a 
hundred and twenty elephants. These huge beasts he ex- 
hibited in his triumph to the dehght of the curious Romans. 

The battle cost the enemy nearly all Sicily. Of the 
larger cities they held only Lilybaeum, now besieged by the 
Romans, and Drepana, where Adherbal, their high admiral, 
was stationed. Under these circumstances the authorities 
at Carthage sent Regulus, who was still a prisoner, to Rome, 
to negotiate a peace, promising him liberty if he should 
succeed. He, however, urged the senate to persevere in 
the war ; then — 

" From his chaste wife's embrace, they say, 
And babes he tore himself away, 
As he had forfeited the right 
To clasp them as a freeman might; 
Then sternly on the ground he bent 
His manly brow; and so he lent 



Hamilcar lOI 

Decision to the senate's voice, 

That paused and wavered in its choice, 

And forth the noble exile strode, 

Whilst friends in anguish lined the road." 

Returning to Carthage in accordance with his oath, he is 
said to have suffered death by torture ; but in fact no one 
knows how he died. 

Next year the consul PubUus Claudius sailed from Lily- Defeat at 
bseum to Drepana to surprise Adherbal. But the admiral, 240 b c ' 
far from being caught napping, met the enemy and inflicted 
upon him an overwhelming defeat. The Romans tried to Polyblus i. 
account for this disaster by a story that when Claudius was t^P ' ^^^ 

■' ■' (epitome) 

planning the attack, he received word that the sacred xix. 
chickens would not eat, — an omen which signified that the 
gods forbade the enterprise. Haughtily exclaiming that if 
the fowls would not eat, at least they would have to drink, 
he threw them into the sea. His impiety together with his 
lack of skill is given as the cause of this great misfortune. 

While the Romans were besieging Lilybaeum, Carthage Hamilcar 
sent out a general who was to prove, in himself and in his ^ ' ^"^^ 
sons, the most dangerous enemy Rome ever met. This was 
Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, — the " Lightning," — a man of 
extraordinary genius for war. He occupied Mount Ercte, Polyblus i. 
above Panormus, which was then held by a Roman army. •^ * 
Viewed from the city, this mountain seems a gigantic rock, 
barren and steep, whose summit can be reached with the 
greatest difficulty by means of an abrupt gorge. Higher up, 
however, the traveller finds broad, grassy basins, in one of 
which is a spring of fresh water. Here Hamilcar fed cat- 
tle and raised corn to support the handful of troops, who 
performed wonders under the spell of his genius. From 
the little harbor beneath him his light ships harassed the 
Italian coasts, while from the eagle's perch above he used to 



102 



Expansion of tJic . Roman Poivcr 



Exhaustion 
of the two 
nations. 



Polyblusi.58. 



The last 
battle. 



Polybius i. 59. 



/Egatian is- 
lands, 241 
B.C. 

The terms of 
peace, 241 
B.C. 



swoop down, rapid as the lightning, upon the Romans in 
the neighborhood, and as easily retire to the nest which no 
enemy dared explore. 

After maintaining himself for three years in this position, 
he suddenly abandoned it for a post on the side of Mount 
Eryx. Though his new place was more difficult to hold, it 
afforded him an opportunity to cooperate with his friends in 
the neighboring city of Drepana. But with his small force he 
could accomplish little ; and on the other hand, the Romans 
failed to dislodge him. '' The two nations engaged were like 
two well-bred game-cocks which fight to their last gasp. 
You may see them often, when too weak to use their wings, 
yet full of pluck to the end, and striking again and again. 
Finally chance brings them the opportunity of once more 
grappling, and they hold on till one or the other of them 
drops dead." 

Neither nation had any longer the means of supporting a 
fleet or a strong army in service. Rome had so debased 
her currency that it was nearly worthless ; her treasury was 
empty ; and she was on the verge of bankruptcy. While 
Hamilcar steod in the way of her gaining control of Sicily 
by means of her land force, want of war ships made her 
powerless on the sea. Under these circumstances " the 
wealthier citizens undertook singly or in companies of two 
or three to supply a quinquereme on the understanding that 
they should be repaid, if the expedition proved a success." 
With two hundred vessels thus built, the consul Gains 
Lutatius Catulus, at the .'Egatian islands, intercepted a new 
Carthaginian fleet bringing supplies to Sicily, and totally 
defeated it. 

As the Carthaginians had no longer any means of carrying 
on the war, they gave Hamilcar full power to make peace, 
provided he thought best to do so. '' Nor was their confi- 



Terms of Peace 103 

dence misplaced. He acted the part of a gallant general and 

a sensible man. As long as there was any reasonable hope 

of success in the business he had in hand, nothing was too 

dangerous for him to attempt; and if any general ever Poiybius i.62. 

did so, he put every chance of victory to the fullest proof. 

But when all his endeavors miscarried, and no reasonable 

expectation was left of saving his troops, he yielded to the 

inevitable, and sent ambassadors to treat of peace and terms 

of accommodation. And in this he showed great good 

sense and practical ability ; for it is quite as much the duty 

of a leader to be able to see when it is time to give in, as 

when it is time to win a victory. Lutatius was ready enough 

to listen to the proposal, because he was fully aware that 

the resources of Rome were at their lowest ebb from the 

strain of the war ; and eventually it was his fortune to end 

the contest by a treaty," the terms of which, in their final 

form, were as follows. There shall be friendship between 

Carthage and Rome, provided the Carthaginians evacuate 

Sicily, pay the Romans thirty-two hundred talents of silver 

— over three and a half millions of dollars — within 

ten years, and give up all prisoners without ransom. 

Thus after continuing twenty-three years, the First Punic 

War came to an end in 241 B.C. Some years later Sicily p. 130, 

became a Roman province, — that is, a subject country 

ruled by a Roman magistrate. 

After the war, as Carthage had no means of paying her The Merce- 
mercenaries, they mutinied and were joined by the Libyans, "^'^^ ^^' 
who revolted against their harsh task-masters. A struggle, 
known as the Mercenary .War, ensued, carried on by both Poiybius i. 
parties with ferocious cruelty. Far from granting quarter, 5" ' 
they tortured their prisoners to death, crucified them, or 
threw them to the elephants to be trampled upon. After 
four years of pitiless strife, Hamilcar destroyed the merce- 



104 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



Hamilcar in 
Spain, 237- 
229 B.C. 



Polybius ii. 
I ; iii. 10 ; 
Livy xxi, i f ; 
Appian, For- 
eign Wars, 
vi.5. 

Polybius iii. 
II ; Livy 
xxi. I. 

Carthaginian 
province in 
Spain. 



Polybius ii. i. 



Hannibal. 



229-221 B.C. 



naries and reduced the insurgents. While his city was still in 
the peril of this war, the Romans treacherously seized Sar- 
dinia; and when Carthage remonstrated, they imposed, in 
addition, a heavy fine. Sardinia together with Corsica be- 
came the second Roman province. 

Hamilcar's soul burned with hatred of the city which, 
by force and fraud, had robbed his fatherland of its naval 
supremacy and its fairest provinces. To him the existing 
peace was to be a preparation for war which in turn should 
make Rome feel the terrors of invasion. As he saw all 
Libya bereft of resources and perceived the weakness of the 
mercenary system, he planned to create in Spain a province 
which should supply not only troops but all other means of 
waging a more successful war. The story is told that when 
he was about to set out for Spain, he led his son Hannibal, 
then a boy of nine years, to the altar and made him swear 
undying enmity to Rome. 

In Spain he occupied nine years in forming a Cartha- 
ginian province more by diplomacy than by war ; he taught 
the native tribes to live together in peace under his rule and 
to develop the resources of their country. While he was 
engaged in this work, his skill and his money created a new 
political party at Carthage, — a vigorous democracy, which 
opposed the peace-loving capitalists and supported its leader 
in his far-reaching plans for war. " Then he died in a man- 
ner worthy of his great achievements ; for he lost his life in 
a battle in which he showed a conspicuous and even reck- 
less bravery. As his successor, the Carthaginians appointed 
his son-in-law Hasdrubal, who at. the time commanded the 
fleet." 

Hasdrubal continued the wise policy of his predecessor 
with " wonderful skill in gaining over the tribes and in add- 
ing them to his empire." When after eight years of such 



Second Punic War 105 

service he was murdered by a Celt, the soldiers with loud Poiybius ii. 
enthusiasm carried Hannibal to the general's tent and 3^> ^ivy 

xxi. 2. 

proclaimed him commander. As they' looked upon this 

young man, " the veterans imagined that Hamilcar in -his 

youth was restored to them ; they noticed the same vigor in 

his frame, the same animation in his eyes, the same features 

and expression of the face. . . . His courage in meeting Livy xxi. 4. 

dangers and his prudence in the midst of them were 

extreme. Toil could neither exhaust his body nor subdue 

his mind, and he could endure hunger and cold alike. He 

ate and drank no more than nature demanded. Working 

day and night, he thought of sleep only when there was 

nothing else to do ; then wrapping himself in his military 

cloak, he would lie on the ground among the watches and 

the outposts of the army. Though he dressed as a plain 

officer, his arms and his horses were splendid." 

When Hannibal felt himself prepared, he attacked Sagun- The Second 
tum, a city of Spain in alliance with Rome, and took it after 
a siege of eight months. This act gave the Romans a pre- 
text for war. But while they were preparing to invade both Polybius iii. 
Spain and Libya, with the idea of merely extending the ^°^' ^^^^ 

xxi-xxx; Ap- 

operations of the precedmg war, Hannibal, with a well- pian,/v?r^/v« 

trained army of fifty thousand infantry, nine thousand cav- Wars, vii, 

airy, and a number of elephants, crossed the Pyrenees and 

marched rapidly through Gaul. Recently the Romans had Pp. 126, 140. 

conquered the Celts of northern Italy. As this whole nation 

was indignant with Rome on account of injuries received, Livy xxi. 20. 

they eagerly supported Hannibal in his march through their 

country. It was not till the crossing of the Rhone that he 

met with opposition from the natives. When, however, he Hannibal 

began the ascent of the Alps, the real difficulties of his ^^°^^^^^^^ 

journey appeared ; for the way was narrow and rough, and 

the mountaineers attacked him. From the higher ground, 35. 



Punic War, 
218-201 B.C. 



io6 Expansion of the Roman Power 

which secured their own safety, they rolled stones and 
hurled missiles upon the troops and upon the long train of 
pack animals. Many soldiers fell and many beasts of bur- 
den were either disabled or lost, so that the army suffered 
for want of provisions. At length with great toil and peril 




" Hannibal " 

(National Museum, Naples.) 

Hannibal reached the summit, where he rested his men 
and cheered them with some such words as these : '' Here 
on the summit of the Alps, we hold the citadel of Italy; 
below us on the south are our friends, the Gauls, who will 
supply us with provisions from their bountiful lands and will 
help us against their deadly foes ; and yonder in the distance 
lies Rome ! " 



Ticinus and Trcbia 107 



The descent was still more difficult and dangerous ; for Hannibal in- 
vades II 

218 B.C. 



the southern slope is steeper, so that, in snow and ice, the ^^ ^ ^' 



men and the beasts often lost their foothold. When he 

reached the plain, he had less than half the army with which 

he had set out, five months before, from Spain. And those Poiybius iii. 

who survived were sick and feeble, — worn out with fatigue, ^ ' "'^ ' ^^''' 

° ' 40. 

hunger, and exposure to cold ; their arms were battered, 
their horses lame, their clothes in tatters ; they seemed 
more like savages than well-disciplined troops. With such 
forces he had come to attack a nation which numbered 
seven hundred thousand men of military age. And yet it 
was to be no one-sided contest. An army of trained sol- 
diers, full of the spirit of their great commander, opposed a 
mere militia. A born genius for war, Hannibal had served 
an apprenticeship under his illustrious father and had been 
a pupil of his own veterans. As general he had subdued 
fierce tribes of Spaniards and of Gauls and had overcome 
the Alps themselves. Compared with him, though he was 
still young, the Scipios and the Fabii were tyros. 

The appearance of Hannibal in the valley of the Po Battle on the 
rudely awakened the Romans from their dream of conquest. ^"^"^> ^i 
They suddenly realized that the war was to be waged for 
the defence of their homes and their country. In a light Poirbius iii. 
cavalry battle on the Ticinus, a tributary of the Po, Hanni- ^ . ' /r""' 
bal so easily routed the consul Scipio that none could hence- 
forth doubt the superiority of the Carthaginian horsemen. 
The consul immediately withdrew to the south bank of the 
Po, and sought the protection of the hills near the Trebia 
River. Here his colleague, Tiberius Sempronius, with 
another army, joined him and took chief command ; for 
Scipio had been wounded in the battle. 

One wintry morning in December, when the snow fell ^^i^-^^^ .^ 
and the wind blew cold and damp from the river and the u.c. 



io8 Expansion of the Roman Power 

marshes, Hannibal, after giving his men a good breakfast 

Polybius iii. and plenty of oil for their bodies, sent out a band of cavalry 

74; ivy ^^ tempt the enemy across the river. Sempronius, who was 

XXI. 47-56. ^ ^ _ 

eager for battle, that he might win for himself the glory of 
victory, readily led his army out before breakfast through 
the swollen Trebia. Hungry and numbed with cold, the 
Romans were doomed to defeat. The Carthaginian horse 
routed their wings, while Hannibal's brother Mago, a young 

Polybius iii. man " full of youthful enthusiasm and trained from boyhood 

7^- in the art of war," assailed them from an ambush in the 

rear. The struggle, though long, ended in the complete 
overthrow of the Romans. Ten thousand of their best 
infantry fought their way through the enemy and escaped. 
Nearly all the rest were killed or captured, and Hannibal 
held their camp. This great success led the Gauls, who 
had hitherto wavered, to cast their lot with the victor. 

Excitement News of the misfortune depressed Rome. Throughout 

the winter superstitious fear so disturbed the citizens that 
they were ready to believe every idle myth they chanced 
to hear, — ^'that in the vegetable market, an ox had climbed 
to the third story of a house and had leaped thence to 

Livy xxi. 62. the ground, that ships were seen in the sky, . . . that the 
spear at Lanuvium had shaken itself, that a crow had 
flown into the temple of Juno and had alighted on her 
couch, . . . that it had rained stones in Picenum." 
Still more wonderful prodigies were excited by the fact that 

p. 140. one of the consuls-elect, Gains Flaminius, a great favorite 

of the people and an enemy of the senate, had gone to his 

p. 29. command at Arretium, in Etruria, without taking the aus- 

pices. Servilius, the patrician consul, with the help of the 
senate, provided sacrifices and festivals for appeasing the 
angry gods ; after which he set out to his own command 
in Ariminum. Thus the consuls lay, each with his army, 



Trasimene 109 

guarding the two principal roads which connected the Po 
valley with central Italy. 

But Hannibal surprised them by taking an unusual route Hannibal in 
over the Apennines far to the west. In crossing the marshes 
north of the Arnus River his troops underwent most ter- 
rible hardships. " All suffered grievously, especially be- 
cause they could not get sleep on a continuous march of 
four days and three nights through a route which was under Poiybius iii. 
water. . . . Most of his pack animals, slipping in the mud, 79- 
fell and perished, and could then do the men one service 
only, — they sat upon the dead bodies, and pihng baggage 
upon them so as to stand out of water, they managed to get 
a snatch of sleep for a short portion of the night." 

When Hannibal reached dry ground in Etruria and found Battle of 

Flaminius still guarding Arretium, he passed the enemy ^^^^ 

without deigning to notice him, and took the highway for b.c. 

Rome, plundering as he went. Flaminius could but follow; Poiybius iii, 

for he felt it his duty to protect the fields of the allies, and ^°"^5 ; Livy 

xxii. 3-7. 
he knew he must gain a victory to save the political party 

he represented, in its conflict with the senate. Unwarily he 

fell into a trap at Lake Trasimene, where he was killed 

and his army annihilated. When news of this calamity 

reached Rome, and the praetor announced to the people, — 

"We have been beaten in a great battle," the Romans, 

long unused to misfortune, gave way to unmanly grief and 

alarm. With the advice of the senate, however, they elected Fabiusthe 

Quintus Fabius Maximus dictator; for the surviving consul Cunctator — 

" Delayer." 

was too far away to make the appointment, according to 
custom. 

Meantime Hannibal, instead of attacking Rome, crossed Hannibal and 
the peninsula to the Adriatic coast and moved gradually ^^^^"^' 217 

B.C. 

southward, gathering vast booty from the country through 
which he passed. His men refreshed themselves with good 



no 



Expaiisioji of tJie Rojnan Power 



p. i:;8, n. I. 



The battle of 
Cannae, 216 

B.C. 

Polybius iii. 
107 ff ; Li\ y 
xxii. 34 flf. 



Pp. 46, 68. 



P. 141. 



Cliaracter of 
the Romans. 



food, bathed their horses in old wine, and prepared to meet 
the next Roman army which should come against them. 
But instead of risking a battle, Fabius dogged the footsteps 
of the invader, cut off foraging parties, and trained his own 
men to face the enemy in small encounters. As this policy 
did not hinder the Carthaginians from marching and plunder- 
ing wherever they pleased, it proved extremely unpopular 
and subjected the dictator to the severest criticism. Yet his 
persistence in avoiding battle, though it wTecked the office 
of dictator, saved Rome for the vear from another defeat. 

Unusual efforts were made to levy and train troops for the 
following summer. The new consuls, ^-Emilius and Varro, led 
a force of more than eight}^ thousand men, including allies, 
against Hannibal. This was the largest single army Rome 
had ever put into the field, while the force of the enemy 
numbered about fifty thousand. The two armies met at 
Cannae on the Aufidus river in Apulia. Varro, who held 
chief command on the day of battle, massed his maniples 
in a heavy line, in the hope of overcoming by sheer weight. 
"\Miile the superior cavalry of the enemy routed his wings, 
his centre, a solid phalanx, drove in the opposing Iberians 
and Celts; but then found itself assailed on all sides, — 
Gauls and Iberians in front, ^\•ith a violent wind driving 
clouds of dust in the face, veteran Libyans on both flanks, 
and in the rear a tempest of cavalry. Too crowded to keep 
rank or even to use their weapons, the Romans fell like 
sheep under the knives of butchers. Seven-eighths of their 
army, including ^-Emilius, eighty senators, and many other 
eminent men, perished. Varro, who sunaved, collected at 
Venusia the remnants of the army, amounting to scarcely 
ten thousand men. 

Intelligence of this ovenvhelming defeat brought intense 
asfonv to Rome. Everv household mourned its dead, while 



Chansre in the War 1 1 1 



<!> 



all feared for the city and for their own lives. " In spite of 

all, the senate left no means untried to save the state. It 

exhorted the people to fresh exertions, strengthened the city Poiybius. iii. 

with guards, and deliberated on the crisis in a brave and .^^^' 

manly spirit. And subsequent events made this manifest. 

For though the Romans were decisively beaten in the field, 

and had lost reputation for military prowess, the peculiar 

excellence of their political constitution and the prudence 

of their counsels regained for them the supremacy over 

Italy." 

On the evening after the battle, so Livy reports, Maharbal, "Let us onto 
leader of the Carthaerinian horsemen, advised his comman- . • 

° ' Livy xxu. 51. 

der, " Send me in advance with the cavalry, follow with the 
army, and five days hence we shall dine in Rome ! " Han- 
nibal knew, however, that with his present forces he could 
take Rome neither by storm nor by siege ; but through the 
revolt of the allies he hoped to undermine the defences of 
the capital. 

With the battle of Cannae the character of the war changed 
changed. Nearly all the allies of Rome in southern Italy, ttje^^^" ° 
including the great cities of Capua and Tarentum, revolted. 
On the death of Hiero, king of Syracuse, Sicily also for- 
sook Rome. Philip V, king of Macedonia, who watched 215 b.c. 
jealously the interference of the senate in the Greek penin- p. 121, n. 2. 
sula, allied himself with the victorious Carthaginian. Though 
none of these allies gave material help, Hannibal felt him- 
self bound to protect his Italian friends. The policy of 
defence to which he was thus forced, gradually wasted his 
army, robbed him of the prestige of success, and in the end 
caused his failure. The greatest of all obstacles in his way 
were the fortified Latin colonies distributed over Italy, which p. 63. 
continued faithful to Rome. These strongholds he was un- 
able to take. On the other side, the Romans henceforth 



112 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



The siege of 
Syracuse aiKS' 
of Capua, 



Polybius 

viii. 9. 



212 B.C. 



211 B.C. 



divided their levy into several small armies for defending 
their remaining allies and for attacking the enemy at weak 
points. Their defeat in three great battles taught them to 
follow the policy of Fabius, the " Shield of Rome " ; hence 

there were no 
more pitched bat- 
tles with Hannibal 
in Italy. 

The Romans 
made great efforts 
to regain Sicily. 
]\Iarcellus, the 
"Sword of Rome," 
besieged Syracuse 
by land and sea. 
For a long time 
the engines of 
Archimedes, the 
famous mathema- 
tician, baffled him ; 
" so true is it that 
one man and one 
intellect properly 
qualified for a par- 
ticular undertak- 
ing is a host in 
itself" At last they took the city, plundered it, and killed 
many of the people, including Archimedes, whom some 
soldiers found busy with his diagrams. Next Capua was 
surrounded by three Roman armies, which Hannibal tried 
in vain to drive away. In the hope of diverting at least 
a part of the force, so as to relieve the besieged alHes, 
he suddenly marched upon Rome and pitched his camp 




■• ]vIarcellu.^" 
(Capitoline Museum, Rome.) 



The Scipios 113 

three miles from the city. The inhabitants imagined that 
their terrible enemy had destroyed the armies at Capua 
and would soon hold the citadel of Rome. But while 
the women in terror implored the gods for help and 
"swept with their hair the pavements of the temples," new Poiybiusix.6. 
recruits, pouring in from the country, manned the walls. 
As Rome defended herself without relaxing the siege of 
Capua, Hannibal gave up hope of saving this city. When 
it fell, the Romans scourged and beheaded the senators, 
and dispersed the people among the Latin colonies or sold 
them into slavery, — a warning to all who meditated revolt. 
Tarentum was afterward taken and suffered a similar pun- 
ishment. 

Hannibal still inspired terror ; he still gained successes, Hannibal still 
though the Romans dared not offer open battle. Marcellus ®"^ ^" 
allowed himself to be surprised and killed ; Fabius, now old, 
was Rome's chief commander in Italy. 

Meantime important events were happening in Spain. The Scipios 
For years Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal who had been ^'^ p^^^- 

^ ' ■ 218-212 B.C. 

left in command of that country, proved inferior to the 
Romans under the brothers Publius and Gnseus Scipio. At 
length, however, with reenforcements from Carthage, he 
overwhelmed and destroyed the separate armies of these 
two generals, who died bravely with their men. The victor 
was in a fair way to win all Spain back to Carthage when the 
Romans sent thither as proconsul Publius Scipio, son of the 211 b.c. 
deceased general of the same name. The new commander 
was a young man still in his twenties. In addition to mili- Livy xxvi. 
tary genius, he had a gifted mind and an attractive person- 
ality j in a state based upon average intellect, he was P. 142 f. 
dangerously original ; his contempt for the formalities of 
law was Greek rather than Roman. Soon after his arrival 210 b.c. 
he surprised and captured New Carthage, the chief city and 



114 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



The battle 

on the Me- 
taurus, 207 

B.C. 



Polybius ix. 
1-3; Livy 
xxvii. 39-51. 



Publius 
Scipio recon- 
quers Spain, 

208-206 B.C. 



Livy xxviii. 
I ff. 



The battle of 
Zama, 202 

B.C. 



arsenal of the enemy in Spain. Hasdrubal, however, skil- 
fully eluded him, and with a large army and abundant treas- 
ures, set out by land for Italy to reenforce his brother. 

The crisis of the war came in 207 B.C., when Hasdrubal, 
descending from the Alps and drawing in his train a host of 
Gauls and Ligurians, marched southward to meet Hannibal. 
If the two great enemies of Rome should unite, she could 
no longer hope for victory ; for her country was desolate 
from end to end ; her best generals had perished ; her faith- 
ful colonies, exhausted by war, were beginning to refuse aid ; 
her last armies were in the field. Fortunately for her the 
messengers who bore to Hannibal the news of his brother's 
coming were taken by the consul Gaius Claudius Nero, 
commander of the army in southern Italy, opposed to Han- 
nibal. Stealthily hurrying to the north, Claudius united his 
army with that of his colleague, Marcus Livius Salinator ; 
and the two consuls surprised and destroyed Hasdrubal 
with his army on the Metaurus River. As Claudius returned 
southward he carried with him the head of the defeated 
Carthaginian, which he directed to be thrown into the 
camp of Hannibal, — to inform him of his misfortune. In 
the ghastly features of his brother, Hannibal read his own 
fate and the doom of his city. 

After this battle, while Hannibal still maintained himself 
in southern Italy, Publius Scipio reconquered Spain. The 
story of this campaign abounds in the romantic adventures 
and the chivalrous acts of the commander, — the first 
Roman whom we may admire both for the kindness and 
generosity of his character and for the brilliancy of his 
mind. 

Master of Spain, he returned to Rome, whence as consul 
he invaded Africa and threatened Carthage. Hannibal 
quitted Italy in obedience to his country's call; and add- 



Terms of Peace 115 

ing raw recruits to his small veteran force, he met Scipio at Poiybins xv. 
some distance from Zama, a town nearly south of Carthaare. ■"■ ^ ' ^^ 

' •' ° XXX. 29-36 ; 

Here was fought the last battle of the long war. By a happy Appian, For- 

inspiration, Scipio placed the maniples of the second and "^'^ Wars, 
^ ^ ^ ^ viii. 31-48. 

third divisions behind those of the first, thus forming 

columns with open lanes between, through which the 
enemy's elephants could make their way without disturb- 
ing the ranks. He was favored, too, by the fact that the 
Numidians, now his allies, furnished him with cavalry supe- 
rior to that of Carthage. For the first time Hannibal suf- 
fered defeat in a pitched battle, — a defeat which made 
further resistance hopeless. 

By the terms of treaty which followed, Carthage agreed The terms of 
to surrender Spain, and to pay Rome two hundred talents ^ , ' ^°^ 
of silver a year for fifty years ; to give up all her elephants 
and all her war-ships except ten triremes ; to wage no war Poiybius xv. 
outside of Libya and in Libya none without the consent of ^^' ^ivyxxx. 

37- 

Rome. With sorrow the Queen of the Waters saw her great 
fleet sink in flames. Even more galling was the clause of 
the treaty which forbade her waging war in Libya ; for it 
left her helpless against Rome's ally, Masinissa, king of 
Numidia, who plundered Carthaginian territory to the ex- 
tent of his pleasure. Such was Rome's policy toward a 
fallen enemy. 

The long war between Carthage and Rome for the con- This war the 
trol of Europe and Africa was ended; and while the con- conquests ° 
queror of Hannibal journeyed in triumph from Rhegium to 
the capital, the Italians hailed him as their saviour. Rome 
named him Africanus after the continent he had subdued. 
But neither the conqueror nor the victory promised political 
quiet or external peace : the battle at Zama foretold the 
progress of victorious Roman legions through the whole 
circle of Mediterranean countries ; in Scipio Africanus the 



ii6 



Expansion of the Ro?nan Empire. 



P. 143- 



Condition of 
the East, 
about 200 
B.C. 



Cf. pp. Ill, 
121, n. 2. 



Holm, 
Greece, \\\ 
p. 290 ff. 
P. 6::. 



First Mace- 
donian War, 
215-205 B.C. 

Polybius vii. 
9; Livyxxiii. 

33 f- 

The Second 
IZacedonian 
"^ar, 200-196 
B.C. 



historian sees the first of a succession of briUiant generals, 
who, while subduing the world, overthrew the government 
of the repubhc. 

When, after the Second Punic War, Rome began seriously 
to interfere in the affairs of Greece, there were in the East 
three great kingdoms, remnants of Alexander's empire : 
first, that of the Seleucid^e, in western Asia, including a part 
of Asia ]Minor ; second, Macedonia, which through garri- 
sons controlled Thessaly, Corinth, and various other states 
of Greece ; and third, Egypt, whose kings claimed Phoe- 
nicia and a few possessions in Asia Minor and in Thrace. 
In addition to the great powers, there were two Grecian 
leagues, — the .Etolian and the Achaean, — and many lesser 
independent states, as the republic of Rhodes, brilliant in 
commerce and in art, and the kingdoms of Pergamum, 
Bithynia, and Pontus. In the tangled international rela- 
tions we find this guiding thread : in self-defence Egypt 
sought peace ; the smaller states, especially those engaged 
in commerce, as Rhodes and Athens, following the same 
policy, looked to Egypt for support ; on the other hand, 
Antiochus III, the Seleucid, and Philip V of Macedonia, 
ambitious sovereigns, tried to extend their power. Rome, 
allied to Egypt and hostile to Philip V because of his treaty 
with Hannibal,\.was to appear in Greece as a protector of 
peace and of freedom against the Macedonian despot. 

The first conflict between Rome and Macedonia, vrhich 
fell witliin the Second Punic War, though marked by no 
important battles, brought Rome into alliance with ^tolia, 
Athens, Pergamum, and other Eastern states, and thus pre- 
pared the way for future complications. 

Xo sooner was the Roman senate free from the struggle 
with Carthage than it forced upon the people a second war 
with Philip in behalf of the allies whom he was assailing. 



Second Macedonian War 



117 



The first army sent to Greece accomplished little, as it was Polybiusxvi. 
made up of volunteers who had enlisted for plunder rather 24-^vii]. 39, 

^ ^ Liyy XXXI. i- 

than for war. Later the young but able consul Flamininus, xxxiii. 30. 
led against Philip a strong army of twenty-five thousand 
men, composed of Itahans and Greek allies. Though 
Philip had about the same number, most of his troops were 
boys. The eyes of the world followed the movements of 
the Roman legion and the Macedonian phalanx, for again, as 




A Scene in Macedonia 



in the time of Pyrrhus, these two most efficient military sys- Botsford, 

terns of the ancients came into conflict. The phalanx was '''^^^^^ 

P- 326. 
a 'sohd body of bronze-clad warriors bristling with long 

pikes ; on level ground it was unconquerable, but among 

the hills it could be easily broken. The legion, on the 

contrary, was light and flexible, developed especially with 

a view to fighting the mountaineers of central Italy. At 

Cynoscephalge — " Dogs' Heads " — a low range of hills in The battle of 

Thessaly, the armies met, and after a sharp struggle the i^°^^^^^^^^ 

legion was victorious. The success of Rome was due to her 



ii8 



Expansio}i of the Roinan Powei' 



Terms of 
peace, 196 

B.C. 



The freedom 
of Greece. 



Polybius 
x\iii. 46. 



The Asiatic 

War, 192-18 
B.C. 

Li\y xxxiii. 
44-xxx\'iii. 
38. . 



military organization, to the poor quality of the opposing 
troops, and above all, to the superior .-Etolian cavalry in 
her service. 

The vanquished king was compelled to cede his various 
Greek possessions to the victor. But as the commons of 
Rome were still opposed to aggression in the East, as 
Antiochus III threatened, and as any attempt to introduce 
garrisons into Greek towns would have created a storm of 
opposition, Rome decided to be magnanimous. Accord- 
ingly at the Isthmian festival of the following spring, by the 
direction of Flamininus and his colleagues, who were peace 
commissioners, a herald proclaimed to the assembly the 
freedom of all the Greeks who had been ruled by Philip. 
" After the games were over, in the extravagance of their 
jov, they nearly killed Flamininus by the exhibition of their 
gratitude. Some wanted to look him in the face and call 
him their preser^-er ; others were eager to touch his hand. 
]\Iost threw garlands and fillets upon him ; and among them 
they nearly crushed him to death." Though Flamininus 
wished well for Greece, his gift of freedom was a fair delu- 
sion. The Greeks were still capable of gratitude, of noble 
impulses, and of high aspirations, but they could not keep 
peace among themselves, — the only guarantee of their lib- 
erty. Under these circumstances their gratitude to Rome 
and Rome's protectorate of their freedom were to prove 
the double bond of their slavery. 

Fearing Roman aggression, Antiochus III invaded Greece 
and, in his turn, played the game of freeing that country. 
He had been encouraged to war by Hannibal, whom the 
Roman senate had forced into exile, and who was now at 
the court of the Seleucid king. Had the great Carthaginian 
been given the direction of affairs, he might again have 
invaded Italy to wage a new war by means of the boundless 



Asiatic War 1 1 9 

resources of the East. But jealousy and littleness of mind 
prevented Antiochus from undertaking so magnificent a 
scheme. Driven from Europe, the king suffered an over- 
whelming defeat at Magnesia, in Asia Minor, at the hands 190 e.g. 




A Galatian and his Wife 

(Museum of the Piombino Palace, Rome.) 

of Lucius Scipio, brother of Africanus. As a result of this 
unsuccessful war, he gave up all his possessions west of 
Mount Taurus. Although Rome bestowed a part of the 
ceded territory upon Pergamum and another part upon 
Rhodes, leaving several small states independent and keep- 



120 Expansion of the Rovian Pozuer 

ing nothing for herself, she extended her protectorate over 

all Asia Minor. Hannibal fled to Bithynia, where he died 

by poison to escape the Romans. Antiochus was stoned to 

death by his own people ; and his great empire rapidly 

dwindled to the petty kingdom of Syria. 

Roman policy Meantime through envoys, the states of Greece con- 

toward stantlv accused one another before the Roman senate, and 

Greece. 

constantly invited that body to settle their quarrels. Ac- 
cordingly we find one senatorial commission after another 
coming to Greece to arbitrate disputes and to look after the 
interests of the repubhc. Their respect for Greek culture, 
however, did not prevent them from fostering disunion, — 
from undermining the Achaean League. To rid themselves 
of a troublesome Hellenic patriot, these " lovers of Greece" 
sometimes resorted even to assassination. 
Perseus of Such was the state of aflairs when Phihp died and was 

^ ^ '^' succeeded by his son Perseus. More amiable though less 

179 B.C. J o 

able than his father, he cherished the noble ambition of 

championing Hellas against barbarian Rome. " Penny wise 

and pound foolish, strong in preparation, weak in action, he 

How and was incapable of wise daring and generous expenditure. 

Leigh, Ro7ne, j^^ lacked that rapid decision and unfaltering resolve that 
P- 275. 

could alone have borne his enterprise to success." His 

clever diplomacy and the national aspirations of the Greeks, 

who once more strove for unity and freedom, were rapidly 

bringing them into touch with Macedonia, when Rome, to 

prevent this dreaded combination, declared war against 

Perseus, 171 B.C. 

The Third As it was now well known that ser\'ice in the East 

ace om enriched the troops with boots', there was no lack of recruits 

War, 171-107 ^ ^ ' 

B.C. for the war. During the first three years, the generals of 

the repubhc, instead of fighting Perseus, plundered Greece. 
Their incompetence and greed alienated allies and encour- 



Third Macedonian War 121 

aged the enemy, till Rome felt compelled to put in com- Livy xiii. 51- 

mand a man of character and abiHty, Lucius y^milius ^ ^' ^^ '' ^" 

tarch, /^mil- 

Paulus.-^ Historians lay stress on his honesty, — a virtue lus^ 7 ff. 

which was growing rare among the public men of the time. 

He had a broad, generous sympathy, which won the esteem 

even of foreigners ; and though upward of sixty, he was 

still vigorous. He met and conquered Perseus at Pydna, a The battle of 

city of Macedonia. "yEmilius had never seen a phalanx ^y^*^^' ^^^ 

B.C. 

till he saw it in the army of Perseus on this occasion ; and p ^ ^^^^ 
he often admitted to his friends at Rome afterward that he xxix. 17. 
had never beheld anything more alarming and terrible ; 
and yet he, as often as any man, had been not only a 
spectator but an actor in many battles." The king escaped, 
but was taken later, and after following, with his young 
children, in the triumphal procession of the conqueror, he 
died in prison either by his own hand or by the cruelty of 
the jailer. At the close of the war the Romans imposed an 
annual tribute on the Illyrians for having aided Perseus.^ 
Macedonia they divided into four republics, which they pro- 
hibited from all intercourse with one another. Thus a great 
state perished. The cities yielded to the victor shiploads of 
furniture, precious metals, and works of art. In addition, the 
troops plundered Epirus for having sided with the king ; they 
carried thence vast spoil and a hundred and fifty thousand 

1 Son of ^milius who died at Cannae, p. no. 

2 Trouble with the Illyrians began long before. In 229-228 B.C. 
Rome punished them for piracy, and compelled them to keep their 
hands off Corcyra and Epidamnus. Rome's treaties with these two 
Hellenic states were her first diplomatic dealings with Greece. In 
219 B.C. she waged a second war with the Illyrians in behalf of her 
Greek allies, who were already increasing in number. But it M'as not 
till this piratical nation had cast its lot with Perseus that the Romans 
determined to annex it, and even then — 167 B.C. — they did not 
organize it as a province; p. 127, n. i. 



122 



Expansion of the Roman Power 



The senate 
all-powerful. 

Polybius XXX. 
19. 



Political 
slavery of 
Greece. 



150 B.C. 
Plutarch, 

M. Cafo, 9. 



inhabitants, who were sold into slavery. Nevertheless they 
grumbled at their commander for allowing them so little. 

The senate now sat on the pinnacle of power and glory. 
The rulers of the nations sent their humble respects to its 
majesty, and begged permission to make a pilgrimage to 
Rome ; the king of Bithynia, in the guise of a freedman, 
hailed its members as his guardian gods. The senate of this 
age was the ablest of ancient councils. A degree of justice 
and liberality strengthened its inborn pohtical cleverness. 
For at the close of a successful war two classes of states and of 
persons received its favors, — first the faithful, whatever their 
condition, and second, the strong, whatever their character 
and conduct, while it wreaked merciless vengeance upon 
those who were at once erring and weak. Its policy, too, of 
isolating or of di\'iding the strong and of sowing discord 
among possible enemies tended in the end to peace and 
order. But power and wealth corrupted it. With each 
success it grew more grasping and more arrogant ; and 
among all the senators there was no wise man to utter the 
warning, -'Pride goeth before destruction." 

For Greece there was to be no more freedom. In all the 
chief states, the commission for the settlement of Macedonia 
received complaints from the Romanizing party against those 
who sympathized with Perseus ; and the accused were sent to 
Rome for trial. A thousand from the Achaean League alone, 
including Polybius, the statesman and historian, were thus 
carried into captivity. Far from being given a trial, how- 
ever, they were detained sixteen years among the towTis of 
Etmria. The influence of Polybius procured the release of 
the three hundred who then remained. " It is only a ques- 
tion," said Cato, '''whether a few decrepit Greeks shaU be 
buried by our grave-diggers or by those of their own 
country." 



Third Punic War 123 

The renewed quarrels of the Greeks, the bitterness which Thedestruc- 

the returning exiles excited against Rome, and an outbreak ^^^^j^^ 146 bc 

in Macedonia led the senate once more to interfere. Metel- poiybius 

lus made a province of Macedonia. Mummius defeated xxxix. 8-17; 

. 1 • r Pausanias 

the Achaean army. He then entered Cormth, the chief ^jj u_i5_ 

offender, and according to the laws of war which prevail 
among barbarians, killed most of the men he found and 
enslaved the women and children. After removing every- 
thing of value, he burned the city to the ground. As 
Corinth, stripped of her wealth and her art, sank into ruin, Botsford, 

the Greeks at length realized that while they still retained ^^^^^^' 

P- 327. 
the form of liberty, the Roman senate was their master. It 

ruled them indirectly, through partisan aristocracies in the 
towns and through the governor of Macedonia. Politi- 
cally the Greeks were dead ; their dissensions had ruined 
them. If the Romans should govern them well, they would 
thereby justify the conquest. 

In the same year the Romans destroyed Carthage. For Third Punic 
the beginning of the trouble which led to this event we must ^^' ^'^^'^'^ 

° ° B.C. 

go back to the close of the Second Punic War. The treaty 

with Hannibal had forbidden Carthage, without the con- Polybius 

sent of Rome, to defend herself against attack. Taking ^-"^x^-^; 

^ , . ... . . xxxvi. 2 fF; 

advantage of this condition, Masinissa, king of Numidia, an Appian.i^c^r- 

ally of Rome, continually plundered the territory of Car- ^'^^ Wars, 

thage and seized some of her best lands. In answer to her p"" ^ ^^"' 

complaints Rome sent out various commissioners, who in 

every case were instructed to give secret encouragement to 

the plunderer. As a member of such a commission, Cato, p. 143. 

a narrow-minded statesman, of whom we shall hear more, 

brought home a startling report of the wealth and prosperity 

of Carthage. In his opinion, the city of Hannibal still 

menaced, Rome. Indeed he is said to have ended every 

speech in the senate, whatever the subject, with the words, 



124 Expansioji of the Roman Poiver 

" Carthage must be destroyed ! " He easily convinced the 
capitalists, who wished for a monopoly of the world's com- 
merce, and who formed a majority of the senate. Accord- 
ingly the consuls sailed for Utica with an immense army. 
To avoid war the Carthaginians were ready for every con- 
cession. First they handed over three hundred children as 
hostages. The mothers, who gave them up, *' clung to the 
Appian, For- little ones with frantic cries and seized hold of the ships 
eign Wars, ^^^ ^s^ ^^ officers who Were taking them away." "If you 
sincerely desire peace," said the consuls on their arrival at 
Utica, "why do you need arms? surrender them." After 
vain protests the people gave up their armor, enough for 
tvvo hundred thousand men, besides two thousand engines 
for throwing missiles and stones. "We congratulate you on 
your promptness," the consuls continued ; " now yield 
Carthage to us and settle wherever you like within your 
own land, ten miles from the sea ; for we are resolved to 
destroy your city." 
The destnic- The boundless grief and fury of the people, excited by 

tion of Car- g^^|^ cruel perfidv, settled down to a fixed resolve to defend 

thage, 146 

B.C. their city to the last drop of blood. As they had to make 

new weapons, they converted even the temples into work- 
shops, and the women gave their hair for bowstrings. They 
gallantly repulsed the attacks of the consuls, and for three 
years they defended themselves like heroes. At last Scipio 
^milianus^ forced a passage into the city, where he fought 
his way not only through the streets below, but even on the 
housetops, from roof to roof. " All places were filled with 

Appian, For- groans, shricks, shouts, and every k'ind of agony. Some 
"• 8 f ' [Carthaginians] were stabbed, others were hurled alive 

(Probably from the roofs to the pavement, some of them alighting on 

from Polyb- 

ius who' ^ S*^^ °^ -^milius Pauius (p. 121), but adopted into the family of 

was present.) the Scipios. 



Destruction of Carthage 



125 



the heads of spears. . . . Then he set fire to the three 
streets all together, and gave orders to keep the passage- 
ways clear of burning material so that the army might move 
back and forth freely. 

" Then came new scenes of horror. As the fire spread The horrors 
and carried everything down, the soldiers did not destroy ° ^^'^* 
the buildings little by little, but all in a heap. So the crash- 




Storming a City 



ing grew louder, and many corpses fell with the stones into 
the midst. Others were seen still living, especially old men, 
women, and young children who had hidden in the inmost 
nooks of the houses, some of them wounded, some more or 
less burned, and uttering piteous cries. Still others, thrust 
out and falling from such a height with the stones, timbers, 
and fire, were torn asunder in all shapes of horror, crushed 
and mangled. Nor was this the end of their miseries, for 
the street cleaners who were removing the rubbish with axes, 



126 Expansion of the Roman Power 

mattocks, and forks, and making the road passable, tossed 
with these instruments the dead and the Hving together into 
holes in the ground, dragging them along like sticks and 
stones, and turning them over with their iron tools. . . . 
Horses ran over them . . . not purposely on the part of the 
riders, but in their headlong haste. Nor did the street 
cleaners do these things on purpose : but the tug of war, 
the glory of approaching victory, the rush of the soldiery, 
the orders of the officers, the blast of the trumpets, tribunes 
and centurions marching their cohorts hither and thither — 
all together made everybody frantic and heedless of the 
spectacles under their eyes." This picture, apparently 
drawn by an eye-witness, needs no comment. After the 
Romans had exterminated this innocent people, they cursed 
the o;round on which the citv stood, that it mi2;ht never be 
rebuilt, and the territory it ruled they made into the prov- 
ince of Africa. 
Ligurian, The story of the conquest of Greece and Carthage, just 

s\nfsh^° told, illustrates the character of Roman warfare during the 
wars. half century which followed the peace with Hannibal. In 

the same period, wars with the Ligurians and the rebellious 
Pp. 105, 108, Celts of northern Italy ended in the thorough conquest of 
^"^°' Cisalpine Gaul. Spain, subdued in the Second Punic War, 

197 B.C. was made into two provinces. But the people of this coun- 

try so loved liberty and were so obstinate that the Romans 
had to reconquer them several times. While doing so, they 
showed increasing cruelty and perfidy : they violated trea- 
ties ; they connived at the murder of Spanish leaders ; they 
massacred troops who had surrendered under agreement. 
The siege of Xumantia, a rebellious town of Spain, was a 
repetition of the siege of Carthage, — it reveals the immo- 
rality and weakness of the common soldiers, the baseness 
and incompetence of the generals, and still worse, the alarm- 



Simimary 12/ 

ing degradation of the senate. Scipio, the destroyer of 
Carthage, had the honor of stamping out this rebeUion, 
133 B.C. 

The Romans now ruled most of the territory along the Suinmary. 
Mediterranean between Mount Taurus and the Pillars of 
Hercules. They had seven or possibly nine provinces^ 
under governors sent from the capital, many subject states, 
and many allies in various stages of dependency. Less than 
a century and a half had elapsed since Rome, as the head 
of Italy, entered on her career of foreign conquest ; outside 
of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, she had acquired all this 
power in a lifetime. Within another century and a half, 
she will round out her empire so as to include all the coun- 
tries which surround the Mediterranean. But these two 
cycles of conquest bring with them momentous changes in 
the character of her government and in the condition of 
her citizens. 

Sources 

Polybius i-v and considerable fragments of the other books ; Livy Reading. 
xvi-Hx (bks. xxi-xlv entire, the rest in an epitome); K'^-^'x-BlW, Foreign 
Wars, v-xi ; Plutarch, habius Maxinnis ; Marceilus ; FUiDiininus ; 
ALmilius ; M. Cato ; Philopoeiuen ; Nepos, Hannibal; Florus ii ; 
Diodorus xxiii-xxxii (brief fragments); Eutropius ii. i8-iv. 17; Justin 
xxviii-xxxiv ; cf. Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. v. 

Modern Works 

Pelham, Outlines of Rojuan History, bk. III. chs. i, ii ; Shuckburgh, 
History of Route, chs. xvii-xx, xxii-xxv, xxvii-xxxiii ; How and Leigh, 

1 Cisalpine Gaul, conquered in 191, may not have been organized as 
a province before 81 i?.c, Illyricum, on the opposite coast of the Adri- 
atic, was subdued in 167 li.c, and became a province at some unknown 
time afterward. The province of Asia — in western Asia Minor — was 
formed in 133 n.C; p. 130. The other provinces, already mentioned 
in the text, were Sicily and Sardinia with Corsica 227 r>,c., the two 
Spains, 197 B.C., and Africa and Macedonia, 146 B.C. 



128 Expansion of the Roman Power 

History of Rome, chs. xvii-xxvii ; Ihne, History of Rome, bks. IV, V 
(entire) ; Mommsen, History of Rome, bk. III. chs. i-x ; Duruy, His- 
tory of Ronie (I, II), chs. xix-xxxiii ; Arnold, History of Rome, III. 
chs. xlii-xlvii ; Life of Hannibal ; Smith (R. B.), Rome and Carthage ; 
Carthage and the Carthaginians; Church, Story of Carthage ; How, 
Hannibal ; Morris, Hatinibal (Heroes); Dodge, Hannibal (Great 
Captains) ; Mason, Struggle for Evipire (tutorial series) ; Bossier, 
Roman Africa, chs. i, ii ; Hall, The Romans on the Riviera and the 
RJione, chs. ii-iv \ Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, I. chs. i-vii ; 
Mahaffy, Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the 
Roman Conquest ; The Greek World under Rojuan Sway, ch. i ; Free- 
man, Federal Govern77ient, chs. v-ix (Greek leagues) ; Gardner, New 
Chapters in Greek History, ch. xv (Greek civilization in the East). 




ENaRA.'iD EY EORMAY i CO., N.Y. 




A Street in Pompeii 

(Present Appearance.) 



CHAPTER VI 

THE GROWTH OF PLUTOCRACY (264-133 u.c.) 
Second Period of the Republic — Internal History 

" Yes ! rather than be poor, 
What will not mortals do, what not endure ? — 

Such dread disgrace to shun, 
From virtue's toilsome path away we run." 

— Horace, Odes, iii. 24. 



Rome was a city-state, whose early republican constitu- The federal 

tion was well adapted to a small community. In striking RomJin 

contrast with the Greeks, she showed an admirable liber- Italy, 

ality in bestowing the citizenship upon strangers. Of P. 63 f. 

some of the territory acquired in Italy by war or by Botsford, 

diplomacy she made new tribes, whose members were <^'^'^'^^> 
full citizens. Other communities she kept in half-sub- 
jection, — municipalities without the right of suffrage, — 
K 129 



130 Growth of Plutocracy 

whose people were within the state, but not in the tribes. 

Still others were allies, who permitted Rome to manage 

their foreign relations and to lead them in war. The 

supremacy of Rome in Italy was a military leadership of 

a group of states bound together by common interests and 

kindred blood. This system the allies did not consider 

wholly unjust; for though they were without representation 

in the central government, and were therefore, in some 

degree, subjects, they were free to administer their local 

affairs, and the meanest of them hoped gradually to obtain 

an improvement of their condition. 

The imperial When the Romans acquired their first territory outside 

policy of Qf Italy, they departed from the federal policy they had 

Rome outside _ .. .. r/^ 

of Italy. hitherto pursued, and instituted in its place the province. 

p. 103. This word, which originally signified any limited sphere 

of duty or of authority, came to be applied especially to 
commands outside of Italy, and thence to the territory 
227 B.C. commanded. Some years after the First Punic War the 

Roman senate made a province of Sicily and another of 
Pp. 123, 126. Sardinia and Corsica. Later it added Hither and Farther 
197 4 . . gp^jj^^ Macedonia, Africa, and Asia. After creating four 
P. 86. praetors as governors of provinces, in addition to the two 

who attended to jurisdiction at home, it filled the remain- 
ing governorships with proconsuls and propraetors.'^ 
Despotic rule ' The senate intended to hold the provincials in subjection 
°J^JJ^® ^'^°^" forever. Accordingly it freed them from military service, 
thus depriving them of the spirit and the means of resist- 
ance, and imposed upon them instead a yearly tribute — 
the badge and the burden of slavery. The annual gov- 

1 A proconsul or propraetor was an officer who held the power of a 
consul or praetor in some special command outside of Rome. As 
a rule consuls and praetors, at the close of their terms, became pro- 
consuls and propraetors ; pp. 55, 139. 



inces. 



The Provinces 131 

ernor, too, was absolute master. He was at once general, 
judge, and chief executive; through his quaestor^ he con- p. 82. 
trolled the finances of the province. His will was restrained 
only by the faint fear of prosecution on his return to Rome. 

Some advantages fell to the provinces from Roman rule. Advantages 
First of all, they enjoyed peace: there were no more petty ^uie^^^^ 
wars between the small communities; there was rarely a 
foreign invasion; and the deadly evil of civil discord 
ceased. The cities of a province retained their own laws 
and self-administration, with this restriction on their free- p. 59. 
dom, that everywhere the wealthier class held control. The 
Sicilians paid Rome no more tribute than their former 
masters had levied; some other provinces rendered even 
less. To most of the subject races it was a further gain 
that their crude ideas of justice should be refined by the 
civil law of Rome. To reduce the warring nations of the 
Mediterranean world to permanent peace under a well- 
ordered system of administration was in itself a noble task. 

Under these circumstances prosperity and content ought Evil effects 
to have reigned throughout the provinces. Naturally we ^'^^^"^^'^ 
are disappointed in finding their true condition anything 
but happy. The chief cause of their misery was economic; 
with rare exceptions Rome forbade commercial intercourse 
among the cities of a province, and even restricted trade 
between one province and another. By impoverishing all 
but the favored few, this policy gradually sapped the life- 
blood of the wretched subjects. In place of native Rome mo- 
merchants a horde of greedy money-lenders, speculators, "opoii^es the 

wealth of the 
and traders poured from the capital over all the provinces; world. 

and while their citizenship at Rome protected their lives and 
their ill-got wealth, by their monopoly of commerce, by 

' Generally there was one (luivstor in charge of the finances of each 
province. Sicily, however, had two. 



132 Growth of Plutocracy 

their exactions and heavy rates of interest, they acquired 
most of the property in the subject countries and reduced 
the people to debt and misery. Such speculations trans- 
formed the small farms tilled by their owners into vast 
estates worked by slaves, whose discontent broke out in 
wars that threatened the existence of the imperial city. 
Besides, the system which Rome followed of letting out the 
collection of taxes to contractors was full of evil. The 
Pp. 34, 46, 69, knights, whose wealth enabled them to take these contracts, 
'^°" ground the provincials by their enormous exactions. They, 

Matthew v. whom the Hebrews justly hated as " publicans and sinners," 
46; IX. II. assailed the taxpayers like savage beasts leaping upon their 

prey. yT 

Oppression of Rarely did a governor try to repress these wrongs; the 
b^\h^°^^^^-^^ attempt would only have roused witnesses against his own 
ernor. misdeeds. As he received no salary and but a slight 

allowance from the treasury for expenses, it was necessary 
for the province to support him, together with his family 
and retinue, during his term. This right to maintenance 
the governor made a pretext for the most cruel and oppres- 
sive extortion. Not content with the wealth of his people, 
P. 148. a rapacious ruler seized their works of art, and even sold 

many free men into slavery. The rapid rotation of com- 
manders increased the evil. In his short term of ofhce the 
governor expected to make three fortunes : the first to pay 
the debts he had contracted in bribing his way to power; 
a second to satisfy his judges in case of prosecution on his 
return to Rome; and a third to enable him to live in luxury 
Court for the for the remainder of his days.^ Though a special court 
trial of extor- ^^g established for the trial of extortion committed in the 

tion, 149 B.C. 

provinces, it accomplished no good; for the judges were of 

1 Naturally we find exceptions to the rule; for instance, Cato as 
governor of Sardinia was perfectly honest and just; p. 144, 



Italy 133 

like mind with the culprits. Thieves and plunderers sat in 
judgment on thieves and plunderers; a year or two would 
reverse the role of the two parties. The story of provincial 
oppression is horrible enough without taking into account 
the brutality of the governor, and of his soldiers quartered 
upon a people who, for their lives, dared not shield the 
innocence of their dearest friends and relatives. Before 
the end of the republic, this organized and protected sys- 
tem of plunder and misrule had wrought throughout the 
provinces a desolation as fearful as the ravages of invading 
barbarians. The "peace of Rome" meant slavery, decay, 
and death. 

Italy was to experience a similar decline. The Italian The decline 
league, under the headship of Rome, was the strongest and ° ^ ^' 
most thoroughly centralized political system the world had Pp. 63 f, 130. 
yet known. The network of military roads and fortress P. 63. 
colonies, the respect felt for the power and moderation of 
the leading city, and the common sentiment of nationality, 
held the race of Italians together as an organic unit. The 
war with Hannibal they felt to be a struggle for the defence 
of home and country against an alien invader. Neither the 
terror of his devastations nor the slaughter at Trasimene, P. 109. 
'Svhen all around was consuming in the flames of war, 
could shake the fidelity of the allies, for this evident Livyxxii. 13; 
reason, that they lived under a temperate and mild gov- ^' °^ '"^ 

ni. 90. 

ernment; nor were they unwilling to submit to those who 
were superior to them, whith is the only bond of fidelity." 
When, however, Rome reconquered the many southern 
Italians who had deserted to the enemy after the battle of P. m. 
Cannae, she treated them, not as erring kinsmen, but as 
subjects and slaves. She confiscated large tracts of their 
lands; she degraded the Bruttians and the Campanians 
from the condition of allies to that of state serfs. 



134 GrowtJi of Plutocracy 

Economic Economic causes told even more ruinously upon Italy, 

ay. ;p^gg|-j.i(2^]Qng on trade — nearly the same as those which 
prevailed in the provinces — stifled the life of the whole 
peninsula. The great commercial cities of Capua and 
Tarentum disappeared; in the streets of the once pros- 
perous Greek towns which still remained, merchants gave 
P. 124. place to beggars. The Roman monopolists who destroyed 

Corinth and Carthage brooked no competition nearer 
home. The farming class suffered equally with the traders; 
for as Rome now drew her food supply from the provinces, 
— cheap produce of slave labor, — the Italian peasants 
could find no market for their grain. Driven from their 
farms by Hannibal, thousands of them returned no more, 
and thousands of others were ejected by the confiscations 
of Rome. The system of great estates worked by slaves 
spread itself over Italy. The large proprietors forcibly 
seized the farms of their poor neighbors. "Thus the 
Appian, aw/ nobles became enormously rich, and while the race of 
War5,\.T. slaves multiplied throughout the country, the Italians 
dwindled in numbers and in strength, oppressed by 
penury, taxes, and military service." "The wild beasts 
of Italy have their dens and holes and hiding-places, 
while the men who fight and die in defence of Italy 
enjoy, indeed, the air and the light, but nothing else; 
Tiberius houseless and without a spot of ground to rest upon, they 
Gracchus, wander about with their wives and children, while their 

quoted by 

Plutarch commanders, with a lie in their mouths, exhort their sol- 

Tiberius diers to defend their tombs and temples against the enemy; 

race us, 9. ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ many Romans not one has a family altar or 

ancestral tomb, but they fight to maintain the wealth and 

luxury of others, and they die with the title of Mords of 

the earth,' without possessing a single clod to call their 

133 B.C. own." Such was the condition of Italy at the close of 



Representation 135 

the great period of foreign conquest treated in the preceding 

chapter. 

Had the Italians been able to secure representation in Representa- 

the Roman senate, they might by this means have pro- ^^^^ 

tected their property and their freedom. Such a reform, 

by broadening the basis of the state from the city of Rome 

to the great country of Italy, would probably have saved 

both city and country from the hundred years of revolution 

and the military despotism which were to come. And the 

Romans were not ignorant of the idea; for after the battle 

of Cannae, Spurius Carvilius proposed that two representa- 216 b.c. 

tives should be admitted to the senate from every Latin 

colony, — a measure which would have been a decisive 

move in the right direction. But the senate was too selfish 

and too short-sighted to consider the proposition. " A loud 

and violent expression of disapproval ran through the whole 

house." A member threatened to kill with his own hand 

any Latin senator who dared intrude. "Thereupon Quin- Livy xxiii. 23. 

tus Fabius Maximus said that never was a subject intro- 

Cf. p. 52. 

duced into the senate at a more unseasonable time, . . . 
that the proposal above all others deserved to be covered 
and consigned to darkness and oblivion, and looked upon 
as if it had never been made. This put a stop to the men- 
tion of the subject." The Romans were reversing their P. 21. 
former policy of liberality toward strangers. So highly did 
they esteem the privileges and the honors they enjoyed as 
an imperial people, that henceforth they refused to bestow 
the citizenship upon others except in the rarest cases. 
Exalted by conquest to the position of aristocrats, even the ^' 9°- 
common people looked down upon the Italians as inferiors. 

According to the terms of the constitution as amended The people. 
by Hortensius, the Roman people possessed absolute ^' ^^' 

^ ' 111 Polvbiusvi. 

equality of rights; and whether they voted by tribes or 16. 



136 Growth of Plutocracy 

24i(?)B.c. by centuries, they were sovereign. After the First Punic 

P. 69. War the censors so reformed the assembly of centuries as 

P- 75- to give the poor the same number of votes as the rich, thus 

making it as democratic in form as the tribal meeting had 
been from the beginning. 

The equality and the sovereignty of the people, however, 
were empty forms. In fact the assembly was composed 
of those who lived in and near the city, as distance pre- 
vented most of the citizens from attending. Hence the 

P. 149- city population, which was fast becoming a rabble, alone 

exercised the right to vote. Again, a member of an 

P. 71- assembly could not propose a law or a candidate for 

office, or speak on any subject; he could merely vote for 
or against the candidates and the measures offered by the 

Themagis- presiding officer, who rarely failed to enforce his will 
upon the comitia. To Polybius, the historian, who lived 
in this period, the higher magistrates seemed like kings". 
"The consuls, before leading out the legions, remain in 
Rome and are supreme masters of the administration. 
All other magistrates, except the tribunes, are under them 

Polybius vi. and take their orders. They introduce foreign ambas- 
sadors to the senate; bring matters requiring deliberation 
before it; and see to the execution of its decrees. If, 
again, there are matters of state which require the authori- 
zation of the people, it is their business to see to them, 
to summon the popular meetings, to bring the proposals 
before them, and to carry out the decrees of the majority. 
In the preparation for war, also, and in a word, in the 
entire administration of a campaign, they have all but 
absolute power. It is within their competence to impose 
on the allies such levies as they think good, to appoint 
the military tribunes, to make up the roll of soldiers and 
select those that are suitable. Besides, they have abso- 



12. 



The Senate 137 

lute power of inflicting punishment on all who are under P. 67. 
their command while in active service; and they have 
authority to expend as much of the public money as they 
choose, being accompanied by a quaestor who is entirely P. 131. 
at their orders. A survey of these powers would in fact 
justify our describing the constitution as despotic, — a 
clear case of royal government." 

Polybius, however, was not deceived by appearances. The senate, 
for he knew that the consuls were in fact, though not in 
theory, subject to the senate, — the real master of the 
state. "The senate has first of all control of the treas- 
ury, and regulates the receipts and disburs'ements alike. 
For the quaestors cannot issue any public money for the Polybius vi. 
various departments of the state without a decree of the ^^' 
senate, except for the service of the consuls.-^ The senate 
controls also what is by far the largest and most impor- 
tant expenditure [in time of peace], that made by the P. 81. 
censors in every term of their office for the repair or con- 
struction of public buildings; this money cannot be 
obtained by the censors except by the grant of the senate. 
Similarly all crimes committed in Italy requiring a pub- 
lic investigation, such as treason, conspiracy, poisoning, 
or wilful murder, are in the hands of the senate. Besides, 
if any individual or state among the Italian allies requires 
a controversy to be settled, a penalty to be assessed, help 
or protection to be afforded, — all this is the province of 
the senate. Or again, outside Italy, if it is necessary to 
send an embassy to reconcile warring communities, or to 
remind them of their duty, or sometimes to impose re(pii- 
sitions upon them, or to receive their submission, or 
finally to proclaim war against them, — this too is the 

1 In fact we find the senate often restricting the expenses even 
of the consuls. 



138 



Growth of P hitocracy 



The curule 
ex-magis- 
trates have 
control. 

P. 67, n. I. 



Decline of 
the nobility. 



Ihne, Rotne, 
iv. p. 65. 



P. 122. 



business of the senate. In like manner the reception given 
to foreign ambassadors at Rome, and the answers to be 
returned to them, are decided by the senate. With such 
business the people have nothing to do. Consequently, if 
one were staying at Rome, when the consuls were not in 
town, one would imagine the constitution to be a complete 
aristocracy; and this has been the idea entertained by 
many Greeks, and by many kings as well, from the fact 
that nearly all the business they had with Rome was settled 
with the senate." 

The senators were not all equal; for those who had held 
no curule office were placed by the censors in an inferior 
class, and were called upon to vote though not to speak. 
The curule ex-magistrates, on the other hand, were grouped 
in higher classes according to the offices they had filled, 
and were at liberty not only to vote, but also to debate and 
to suggest measures. This knot of ex-magistrates controlled 
the entire senate and, through it, Rome, Italy, and the 
provinces. It seemed just that experienced statesmen 
should have more authority than the assembly of plain 
citizens, who knew nothing of the condition of the world 
beyond the borders of their own little neighborhood. 

The circle to which these ex-magistrates belonged 
formed, in the beginning, a nobility of merit. It unified 
Italy; it saved the state from Hannibal; it conquered and 
organized the Mediterranean world. "The Roman senate 
was a political organism of the highest perfection, such as 
no other state in antiquity ever created or was qualified to 
create." But from the end of the Second Punic War we 
see the nobles rapidly declining in character --.id in ability. 
They formed a closed hereditary caste, consisting of a few 
great houses, and rarely admitted new men to their privi- 
leged circle; they hated as an intruder any commoner who, 



TJie Nobility 



139 



through popular favor, forced his way into office against 
their will. By their control of the entire religious and 
political machinery of government, they monopolized the 
offices at home and 
in the provinces, and 
passed them in rotation 
among the members of 
their families. 

A young noble, after 
service as an officer in 
the army, and perhaps 
after enriching himself 
as a provincial quaestor, 
secured election to a 
curule aedileship. In 
this position it was his 
duty to entertain the 
people with costly relig- 
ious festivals and shows, 
chiefly at his own ex- 
pense; in this way he 
gained their favor and 
their votes for the higher 
offices. With this legal 
and pious system of cor- 
ruption, he had little 
need of resorting to 
open bribery. Thence 
he advanced to the 

praetorship and to ttie consulship. As praetor, propraetor, P. 13° 
or proconsul, he governed a province, where he glutted 
himself with spoil and acquired the haughtiness and 
the brutality of an unbridled king. If he won distinc- 




The career of 
honors (of- 
fices). 

P. 131- 



P. 86. 



(Giving the Signal at the Games.) 



140 



Growth of Plutocracy 



Plutocracy. 

The knights. 
P. 69. 

P. 46. 



Opposition to 
the rule of 
the nobles. 
P. 98. 

P. 130. 



P. 88. 



Polybius ii. 
21. 

Pp. 105, 126. 

223 B.C. 



tion in this "career of honors," the people showed their 
appreciation by electing him to the censorship — the 
crown of glory of the nobility. To complete our under- 
standing of the nobles of this period, it is necessary to bear 
in mind that they were capitalists, who sought office not 
merely for honor, but also as a means of absorbing the 
riches of the w^orld. The nobility of merit became a 
narrow, self-seeking plutocracy. 

The nobles and other wealthy men to the number of 
eighteen hundred filled the centuries of knights in the 
comitia centuriata. Still other men of means who might 
be required to furnish their own horses for service in the 
cavalry were also called knights. The class so named, 
originally including the senators, were the capitalists, 
who took government contracts for collecting taxes and 
for building public works, and who had in their hands 
most of the commerce and industry of the Roman world. 

Early in the period the selfish policy of the senate pro- 
voked opposition. The people, who had carried on the 
first war with Carthage in the hope of receiving lands in 
Sicily, were disappointed to find the nobles retaining the 
whole island as their own estate. Under these circum- 
stances a man of the people, Gaius Flaminius, tribune in 
232 B.C., proposed to the assembly a law for dividing the 
public lands in Picenum among the citizens. By insisting 
on his constitutional right to offer the measure without the 
consent of the senate, he threatened to destroy the power 
of the nobility. For this reason the historian calls his pro- 
posal "the first step in the demoralization of the people." 
The citizens gladly ratified his m^sure, however, and 
when, a few years later, war broke out wnth the Gauls of 
the Po valley, they elected him consul, that he might win 
more lands for them. He extended the rule of Rome to 



TJie Opposition 141 

the Alps, and as censor built a road, named after him the 220 b.c. 
Flaminian Way, from the capital to Ariminum, to give easy 
access to the new territory. The people were colonizing 
this country when the invasion of Hannibal interrupted 
their work. Their first feeling was that the senate, which 
had kept all Sicily and Sardinia for itself, was now betray- 
ing to the enemy their interests in northern Italy. They 
would have their revenge. 

Encouraged by Flaminius, their tribune Quintus Clau- Separation of 
dius passed a law which forbade senators from owning f^ ^ ^ th^^^"^^ 
merchant ships, ■ — in other words, from engaging in com- knights. 
merce, — probably, too, from taking state contracts. The Livy xxi. 63. 
object was to prevent the senators from using the govern- 
ment as their money-making instrument. Many of them con- 
tinued to trade and to speculate, as before, but they now did 
it secretly, in violation of law. The Claudian measure was 
the first step toward separating the senators from the knights p. 156. 
— the governing aristocracy from the commercial class. 

While the people were voting this law, Hannibal was Failure of the 
seizing their possessions in the Po valley. Naturally their °pp°^^ ^°°- 
thoughts turned once more to Flaminius, their champion. 
Elected consul for 217 b.c, he took command against the 
invader, but was defeated and killed at Trasimene. Rome P. 108 f. 
lost in him an able statesman and a great builder; and 
though the aristocrats through jealousy and hatred called 
him a demagogue, his character and motives were nobler 
than theirs. As leader of the people in opposition to the 
senate, he was succeeded by Varro, a business man, whose 
defeat at Cannae ruined himself and his party. For nearly 216 b.c 
a century after that time there was no open opposition to p. no. 
the senate; but through the years of silence the pent-up 216-133 b.c 
fires of discontent were gathering strength for an explosion P. 154. 
which was to shatter the aristocracy. 



142 



Growth of Plutocracy 



Publius 

Scipio 

Africanus. 

P. 113 ff. 



He behaves 
like a king. 
Cf. p. 139. 



After Flaminius and Varro, the only political strife was 
that between nobles for the possession of office. The con- 
quest of Spain and the victory at Zama made Scipio Afri- 
canus the greatest man in 
Rome. No citizen before 
him had ever reached such 
a height of fortune and 
power. For fifteen years he 
was foreman of the senate; 
he was consul twice, and 
censor. From the end of 
the war with Hannibal he 
contended with all his might 
against the provincial system ; 
for he saw that the necessity 
of garrisoning the provinces 
would soon exhaust the 
strength of Italy. -^ In keep- 
ing with this principle he 
planted several colonies in 
Italy, whose military strength 
was to be reserved for the 
defence of the peninsula. 
Thus the chief of the aristo- 
crats continued the colonial 
policy of Flaminius. 
But he had many enemies. Accustomed to absolute 
command in the field, at Rome he displayed the character 
of a king. He used his immense influence for the politi- 

1 Accordingly he left Carthage and the Spanish tribes self-governing 
under the protectorate of Rome ; and his brother Lucius applied the 
same principle to Greece and to Asia Minor after the war with An- 
tiochus. Cato, his opponent, however, undid the work in Spain, and 
hounded on the Romans to the destruction of Carthage ; pp. 123, 146. 




*' Publius Cornelius Scipio 
Africanus " 

(National Museum, Naples.) 



Scipio Africamis 143 

cal advancement of his family, and trampled upon the law 
to protect a brother from trial for embezzlement. Finally 
the tribunes of the people prosecuted him for receiving 
bribes, for extravagance and tyranny in his military com- 
mands, for impressing foreign nations with the idea " that 
he alone was the head and pillar of the Roman empire; Livyxxxviii. 
that a state which was mistress of the world lay sheltered pl- 
under the shade of Scipio; that his nods were equivalent to 
decrees of the senate and orders of the people." Without 
replying to the charges, he is said to have spoken as fol- 
lows: "Tribunes of the people, and you, Romans, on the 
anniversary of this day I fought a pitched battle in Africa, 
with Hannibal and the Carthaginians, with good fortune 
and success. As, therefore, it is but decent that a stop be 
put for this day to wrangling and litigation, I will imme- 
diately go to the Capitol, there to return my acknowledg- 
ments to Jupiter, supremely good and great, to Juno, 
Minerva, and the other deities presiding over the Capitol 
and citadel; and will give them thanks for having, on this 
day and at many other times, endowed me both with the 
will and with the ability to perform extraordinary services 
to the state. Such of you also, Romans, as it suits, come 
with me and beseech the gods that you may have com- 
manders like myself." The whole assembly followed him 
with enthusiasm. But though he was a man of culture, 
fond of literature and of luxury, his talents were chiefly 
military. Unable to cope with his political enemies, he 
retired into the country to private life. He was the first Pp. 113, 115. 
man whose great personality had endangered the republic. 

Marcus Porcius Cato, his chief antagonist, was a narrow, Marcius Por- 
unsympathetic, close-fisted, egotistic moralist — a survival "usCato.the 
of the older Roman virtue. He was a peasant by birth, P. 123. 
and drew the inspiration of his life from the memories of 



144 



GrowiJi of Plutocracy 



p. 92. 



Plutarch, 
M. Cato, 3. 



Cato, On Ag- 
riculture ; cf. 
Mommsen, 
Ro7ne, bk. iii. 
ch. xii. 



P. 342. 

Plutarch, 
M. Cato,^, 21. 



His govern- 
ment of Sar- 
dinia. 



Pp. 104, 132. 



Plutarch, 
M. Cato, 6. 



Manius Curius Dentatus, the great peasant-statesman of 
the good old time, whose modest cottage stood near his 
father's farm. Accordingly "he worked with his slaves, 
in winter wearing a coarse coat without sleeves, in summer 
nothing but his tunic; and he used to sit at meals with 
them, eating the same loaf and drinking the same wine." 
In a sort of farmer's diary he gives practical hints on 
agriculture: for instance, ''he is a bad farmer who buys 
what he can raise on his own land; a bad father of a house- 
hold who takes in hand by day what can be done by candle- 
light, unless the weather be bad; a still worse, who does on 
a work-day what might be done on a holiday." It is wise, 
he taught, to buy young, strong slaves and sell them when 
they grow too old to work. A -slave must either work or 
sleep; he must have no time for mischief and must not be 
on too good terms with his fellows. This stinginess and 
inhumanity followed Cato through his entire life. 

Ability and honesty raised this thrifty peasant to the high- 
est offices. "When he was governor of Sardinia, where 
former rulers had been in the habit of charging their tents, 
bedding, and wearing apparel to the province, and likewise 
making it pay large sums for their entertainment and that 
of their friends, he introduced an unheard-of system of 
economy. He charged nothing to the province, and vis- 
ited the various cities without a carriage, on foot and 
alone, attended by one public servant, who carried his 
robe of state and the vessel for making libations at a sacri- 
fice. With all this he showed himself so affable and simple 
to those under his rule, so severe and inexorable in the 
administration of justice, and so vigilant and careful in 
seeing that his orders were executed, that the government 
of Rome was never more feared or more loved in Sardinia 
than when he ruled that island." 



Cato 



145 



p. 143. 



Notwithstanding this justice toward the dependents of 
Rome, he despised them, and in opposition to Scipio 
Africanus, did all he could to reduce the allied states to 
provinces. In his home policy he assailed with untiring 
energy the luxury, the refinement, and the culture represented iiis censor- 
by the Scipios; it was chiefly his influence which overthrew ^ ^^' 
this powerful 
family. The no- 
bles feared and 
hated the red- 
haired, gray- 
eyed, savage- 
tusked " new 
man," who re- 
buked their fol- 
lies and their 
sins. Chosen 
censor in spite 
of their oppo- 
sition;, 'iO ex- 
pelled from the 
senate a num- 
ber of disrepu- 
table members, 
taxed luxuries 
unmercifully, 
administered 

the public works and let out the public contracts without 
favoritism. The people, therefore, placed his statue in the 
Temple of Health, with this inscription, "This statue was 
erected to Cato because, when censor, finding the state of 
Rome corrupt and degenerate, he, by introducing wise regu- 
lations and virtuous discipline, restored it." The praise 

L 




Livy xxxix. 
41 ff. 



Sacrificing a Pig 

(National Museum, Naples.) 



riutarch, ^f. 
Cato. 16 ff. 



146 



Growth of Plutocracy 



124. 



The begin- 
nings of 
Romain liter- 
ature. 



254-184 (?) 

B.C. 



Died 159 B.C. 



The begin- 
nings of his- 
tory. 

P. 17. 



Dionysius i. 
79-. 



is too great. No statesman of his time fathomed the depth 
of the evil, much less discovered a remedy for it. When in 
149 B.C., after persuading the Romans to destroy Carthage, 
Cato died at an advanced age, the flood-gates of corruption 
were still wide open. 

Cato was the strongest character in the literature as well 
as in the politics of his age. The practical Romans aimed 
not at the beautiful, but at the useful in letters, and devoted 
themselves, therefore, especially to history, oratory, and the 
science of law. The first native Italian to apply himself 
earnestly to literature was Naevius, a soldier of the First 
Punic War, who composed in verse a history of the conflict 
in which he bore a part. Ennius of Calabria, introduced 
to Roman society by Cato, wrote a metrical history of 
Rome. The works of these two poets doubtless furnished 
much material to the historians. Though Nsevius adhered 
to the native form of verse, Ennius adopted the Greek 
heroic measure. This increasing influence of Greece is 
seen in an older contemporary of Ennius, — Plautus, who 
translated Greek comedies into Latin, adding touches of 
Roman character and enlivening the original with his fresh 
wit. His plays afford an occasional glimpse of Roman life. 
Terence, a slave from Carthage, who lived later than Plau- 
tus, was more elegant, more Greek, than his predecessor, 
though less Mvely and creative. His comedies furnish little 
material for a study of the times. 

Serious history, in contrast to the verses of Nsevius and 
Ennius, began with Fabius Pictor, a senator and an officer 
in the war with Hannibal. He wrote in Greek, the literary 
language of the age, a history of Rome from ^neas to his 
own day. In the earlier part of his work, while depending 
chiefly upon the meagre chronicle which the pontiffs had 
kept from near the beginning of the republic, he inserted 



History 147 

many myths, invented mostly by the Greeks. In his treat- 
ment of his own age he followed reliable sources, but Polybius i. 
showed extreme partiahty to Rome. His work was called ^4 f- 
the Annals, because he grouped events by years rather than 
by topics. It is important to bear in mind that as the con- 
temporary writing of history begins with the Punic Wars, 
we have from that time a narrative both detailed and fairly 
accurate, whereas the earlier period abounds in myths and 
other fictions. 

After Fabius, several persons wrote Roman histories in Polybius. 
Greek, among them Polybius, a statesman of the Achaean 
League. He came to Rome as a hostage, lived there under 
the patronage of y^mihus Paulus, the victor of Pydna, and P. 121. 

taught the son who was afterward to be known as Scipio ^'^' ^^4- ^49. 

154- 
^milianus. Polybius wrote a detailed account of the ex- 
pansion of the Roman power. In preparing this work he Polybius i. i, 

examined documents, travelled about to learn the geog- '^' ^"-7.31. 

33, 37, 47, 59. 
raphy, chmate, and products of the countries he treated, 

and especially attended to the causes, connection, and 

effects of events ; in a word, he set a good example of 

studying history by the methods approved at the present 

day. Cato was the first to compose a history of Rome and Cato, 

Italy — the Origins — in Latin prose; and it is chiefly for ^^'^S^"^- 

this reason that he is considered the founder of Latin prose 

literature. " He tells us that he himself wrote books on 

history with his own hand in large letters, that his boy might Plutarch, 

start in life with a useful knowledge of what his forefathers ^^' ^'^^'''^ ^°' 

had done." 

An orator, too, of remarkable force, Cato inserted many oratory. 

specimens of his eloquence in his history, and wrote a 

manual on the subject of speaking. " The Romans were 

Teuftcl 

well qualified for oratory by their acute intellect, their love y^^,^^ rt-- 
of order, and their Italian vivacity tempered with Roman ature, i. p. 64. 



148 



GrozvtJi of PliUocracy 



Architecture. 



Stolen art. 



Pp. 123, 132. 



Foreign re- 
ligions. 

P. 91. 



gravity," Constant practice at the funerals of kinsmen, in 
the law-courts, in the assemblies, and in the senate, had 
already in the age of Cato produced a number of able 
speakers. It was not till the following period, however, 
that their oratory, under Greek influence, reached its 
highest stage of perfection. 

In art the Romans of the period accomplished far less 
than in literature, though their useful public works, as 
sewers, bridges, roads, and aqueducts, were unrivalled. 
Cato, when censor, built by the senate-house the Basilica 
Porcia, a hall to be used as a law-court and place of busi- 
ness. Others followed his example in the erection of basili- 
cas near the Forum. Countless temples rose throughout 
the city, but most of them, of modest cost and size, soon 
fell to ruin through neglect. On the other hand, the nobles 
began to build large expensive residences, while the people 
lived in huts, as formerly, or swarmed together in tenements. 
The narrow streets, obstructed in many places by shrines 
and statues, were densely crowded in the business quarters 
during the day ; and the few police could not prevent thieves 
from prowling at night in the darkness unrelieved by lamps. 

At this time Rome had hardly made a beginning of sculp- 
ture, and had achieved little more in painting, but preferred 
to import ship-loads of art as plunder from the cities of 
Sicily and of Greece. Without appreciation of real beauty, 
the nobles took pleasure in adorning their houses and villas 
with stolen statues. 

Along with foreign art came the ideas, the religion, and 
the morals of strangers. They began to worship the Greek 
Dionysus, or Bacchus, god of the vine and of life, including 
future life, and the Phrygian Cybele, Mother of the Gods, 
whom noisy processions honored in the streets with drums, 
trumpets, and cymbals, with war dances and bloody tumults. 



Morals 



149 



Thus men and women passed from sobriety to fanaticism. 
Unsatisfied with the empty rituals of their own rehgion, they P. 29. 
embraced these Oriental worships which stirred their souls 
with the ecstasy of joy or the enthusiasm of hope. Rumors 
of secret meetings and of conspiracies excited the senate to 
persecute the followers of Bacchus with such frenzy as our 
forefathers showed in 
hunting witches. 

Morals, already ^^^^^^^^Hf^^^^^^HQI^H Morals, 
declining, were cor- 
rupted by Eastern 
influence ; for the un- 
imaginative Roman, 
who saw little beauty 
in Greek mythology 
and art, welcomed 
the baser pleasures 
of an advanced civili- 
zation. At the same 
time Greek scepti- 
cism unsettled his 
religious faith, the 
foundation of his 
moral conduct. It 

is not to be assumed that all the Romans were now vicious. 
The peasant who escaped economic ruin was still sound at 
heart ; and even the circle of aristocrats produced the pure- 
minded Scipio ^milianus and the noble, self-sacrificing spirit 
of the two Gracchi, who were to be the leaders of the com- 
ing age of revolution. But in the city corruption was almost 
universal. Crowds of beggar clients attended the noble, and 
voted for him in return for the loaves he doled out to them, P. 156. 
or for the shows of buffoons, beasts, and gladiators with which 




A Bacchante 

(National Museum, Naples; a fresco from Pompeii.) 



150 



GrozvtJi of Plutocracy 



he amused them from time to time. The rending of flesh and 
the flow of blood gave this rabble its keenest delight. As to 
the higher ranks, the greed of the capitalist and the insolence 

P. 140. of the noble, already described, were surpassed only by the 

impurity of their lives, while beneath the specious harmony 
which seemed to unite all classes in the state and empire, 
mutual fear and hatred lurked. 

Summary. '"'A more repulsive picture can hardly be imagined. 

A mob, a moneyed class, and an aristocracy almost equally 
worthless, hating each other, and hated by the rest of the 
world ; Italians bitterly jealous of Romans, and only in a 
better plight than the provinces beyond the sea ; more 
miserable than either, swarms of slaves beginning to brood 
over revenge as a solace to their sufferings ; the land going 
out of cultivation ; native industry swamped by slave-grown 

Sulla, p. 22 f. imports ; the population decreasing ; the army degenerating ; 

wars waged as a speculation, but only against the weak ; 

provinces subjected to organized pillage ; in the metropolis 

childish superstition, wholesale luxury, and monstrous vice. 

The hour for reform was surely come. Who was to be the 

man? " 

Sources 

Reading. The same as for the preceding chapter (p. 127). 

of Rome, ch. vi. 

Modem "Works 



Beesly, The 
Gracchi, 
Marhis, and 



Cf. Botsford, Story 



Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. III. ch. iii ; How and 
Leigh, History of Rome, chs. xxviii-xxxii ; Shuckburgh, History of 
7?c;;/(?, chs. xxi, xx^^, xxxii ; Taylor, Constitutional and Political History 
of Rome, chs. vii, viii ; Fowler, City-State, ch. viii ; Nitzsch, Romische 
Republik, i. pp. 133-188; Ihne, History of Rome ^ bk. VI (entire); 
Mommsen, History of Rome, bk. III. chs. xi-xiv ; bk. IV. ch. i ; Duruy, 
History of Rome (I, II) chs. xxii, xxxiv-xxxvii, xliv ; Beesly, Gracchi, 
Marius, and Sulla (epochs), ch. i ; Arnold, Rofuan Provincial Ad- 
ministration, chs. i, ii ; Freeman, Historical Geography ; Mackail, 
Latin Literature, bk. I. chs. i-iii; QxvAXwtHS., History of Roman Litera- 
ture, bk. I. 




Italian Oxen 



CHAPTER VII 

THE REVOLUTION— (I) FROM PLUTOCRACY TO MILI- 
TARISM. THE GRACCHI, MARIUS, AND SULLA (133- 
79 B.C.) 

Third Period of the Republic — First Epoch 

"Thinned by their parents' crimes, our youth shall hear 
How Roman against Roman bared the blade, 
"Which the fierce Persian fitlier low had laid, — 
Shall hear how kin met kin in conflict drear." 

— Horace, Odes, i. 2. 



The brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, though pie- Tiberius and 

Gaius Grac- 



beian, belonged to the highest mobility. Their father had 
filled all the great offices and had celebrated triumphs ; 

151 



chus. 



152 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



Plutarch, 
Ti, Grac- 
chus ; G. 
Gracchus. 

P. 336. 

P. 29. 



Duruy, 
Rome, ii. 
P-445- 

The agrarian 
laws of Tibe- 
rius. 
133 B.C. 



P. 86. 
Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
i. 9-13 ; Plu- 
tarch, Ti. 
Gracchus, 
8 fif; Livy 
(epitome) 
Iviii. 



Cornelia, the mother, was daughter of the Scipio who con- 
quered Hannibal. Their education as well as their birth 
and connections fitted them for a splendid career. The 
gifted mother, so Cicero believes, taught them eloquence ; 
Greek tutors instructed them in the philosophy and the 
political ideas of Hellas. While a mere youth Tiberius 
became an augur, and afterward married the daughter of 
Appius Claudius ; his sister was given in marriage to Scipio 
u^milianus. When as young men they served in military 
and provincial offices, the allies, the dependents, and even 
the enemies of Rome respected and loved them for the 
kindness of their forefathers and for their own high charac- 
ter ; for they had inherited " a generous sympathy with the 
oppressed," with the peasants, the provincials, and even the 
slaves. 

Insight into the deplorable condition of society, together 
with a fixed resolve to regenerate it, led Tiberius, who was 
nine years older than his brother, to become a tribune of 
the plebs for the year 133 b.c. His mother and kinsmen 
encouraged him in the work of reform ; the consul Mucins 
Scaevola, the most eminent jurist of the age, approved his 
plan. He proposed to reenact the agrarian laws of Licinius 
and Sextius as follows : — 

No one shall have the use of more than five hundred 
jugera of the public land. 

No one shall pasture more than a hundred cattle or five 
hundred sheep on the public land. 

He added as a third clause a law passed after the time of 
Licinius : — 

Of the laborers on any farm, a certain proportion shall be 
freemen. 

To these clauses he join.ed the following : — 

The sons — not exceeding two — of present occupiers 



Tiberius GraccJiiis 153 

may each hold two hundred and fifty jugera of pubUc 
land. 

A committee of three, appointed by the tribes, shall divide 
the surplus among the needy in lots of thirty jugera each. 

His plan was to rescue as many families as possible from Opposition, 
poverty and idleness and by substituting independent 
peasants for slaves, to lay anew and solidly the economic 
foundation of society. The poor were enthusiastic for the 
measure. But the rich, who for generations had bought, 
sold, and bequeathed the public land, like private prop- 
erty, declared the bill a scheme of robbery. As these 
lands were scattered over the whole peninsula, supporters 
and opponents of the measure flocked to Rome from every 
quarter, and excited the city with their violent contentions. 

When Tiberius brought his proposal before the tribes, he Veto, 
commended it to the rich by an appeal to their reason : 
Make this trifling sacrifice for the good of the republic, in 
return for which the increased strength of the peasant sol- 
diery will assure you the mastery of the world. But argu- 
ment and eloquence could not overcome their narrow 
selfishness. They induced Octavius, a tribune, to veto the p. 89. 
measure of his colleague, and thus prevented it from passing. 

Two courses were now open to Tiberius : he might abide Tibenus be- 

gins the revo- 
his time, gather influence, and after the prescribed ten lution. 

years, offer himself again for the tribunate according to P. 88. 

law; or, violating the constitution, he might depose the 

obstinate colleague, and immediately pass the bill. If the 

first alternative gave little promise of success, at least it 

would have been the Roman way; but his Greek political 

ideas and the pressing need of reform decided him in favor 

of the second. In fact he could not resist the voice of 

the revolution which called him to leadership. The tribes 

deposed Octavius; a freedman of Tiberius pulled the 



154 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



A mob of 
senators kills 
him. 



Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
i. 14 ff; Plu- 
tarch, Ti. 
Gracchus 
16 ff. 



Scipio -^mil- 
ianus. 

P. 127. 

Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
i. 19. 



ex-tribune from the rostrum, and the revolution of a hun- 
dred years began. The aim of this revokition was to 
substitute the assembly for the senate, — democracy for 
aristocracy; it was to end in the establishment of the 
imperial government. 

His measure then passed without opposition, and was so 
well carried out that after four years the census roll, which 
had long been diminishing, showed an increase of nearly 
eighty thousand citizens fit for military service. But the 
nobles threatened to prosecute him on his retirement from 
office; and this menace decided him to offer himself for 
immediate reelection to the tribunate, — another uncon- 
stitutional step. On election day his peasant supporters 
were busy with their harvests; and when the voting began, 
a crowd of senators and other opponents of the reformer, 
led by Scipio Nasica, dispersed the assembly. Two of the 
colleagues of Tiberius, turning traitor, killed him with 
clubs. With similar weapons the senatorial party mur- 
dered three hundred of his followers, and threw their 
bodies into the Tiber. Thus the senate met unlawful pro- 
c'edure with mob violence, by which it encouraged the 
revolution. 

The authorities tried to overawe the democrats by prose- 
cuting even the obscure followers of Tiberius. On the 
return of Scipio yEmilianus from Spain, after the destruc- 
tion of Numantia, he, too, disapproved the conduct of his 
brother-in-law, and somewhat later he put a stop to the 
distributions of land. This was at the request of the 
Italian allies, who did not share in the allotments but had 
some of their own land — or land they claimed as their 
own — seized by the distributing committee. While this 
sympathy with the Italians was praiseworthy, its effect was 
simply to bring reform to a standstill. Though Scipio 



Gaius Gracchus 155 

knew something of the danger which threatened society, he 
had not the courage of a reformer. The people, who had 
often supported him for office against the wishes of the 
senate, were disappointed to find him using his influence 
as a prop to the nobility; so when he suddenly died, they 
shed no tears over their former favorite. 

The democratic leaders soon regained courage. Elected '^^^ demo- 

" cratic pro- 

to the consulship, Fulvius Flaccus, an ardent supporter of gramme. 

the Gracchi, proposed to win the Italians to the land law 

by giving them the citizenship. This offer they would 

gladly have accepted, had not the senate put a stop to the 

measure. Another leader passed a law permitting the 

people to reelect a tribune in case of a lack of candidates. 

More important still, Gaius Gracchus was coming to the Gaius Grac- 

front. When the people heard him defending a friend in " .* 

the law-court, they were wild with delight; for they saw civil Wars, 

that other orators were mere children compared with him, '• ^^ • ^^^' 

^ tarch. G. 

and they felt that his magnificent talents were to be used Gracchus. 
in their behalf. For a time he served as quaestor in Sar- 
dinia, and avoided politics when at home, but his fate 
called him to finish a brother's work; he dreamed that 
Tiberius appeared to him one night and said, ''Why hesi- 
tate, Gaius? it is your destiny, as mine, to live and die for 
the people." 

He was candidate for the tribuneship for the year 1 23 b.c. Gaius tribune 
Though the nobles opposed him, all Italy gathered to his ° _^^^^' 
support; on election day the people overflowed the Cam- 
pus Martins and shouted their wishes from the house-tops. 
When his year of office had expired, they reelected him to 
a second term. 

As his brother had failed throtigh reliance on the peas- He organizes 
ants, who could rarely leave their work for politics, one of ary party, 
his first objects was to secure a faithful body of supporters 



156 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



P. 149. 



P. 276. 



He wins the 
knights. 
P. 141. 



Pp- 133. 137- 



such as might always be on hand. For this purpose he 
passed a law providing for the monthly distribution of pub- 
lic grain among the citizens at half the market price. In 
doing this he introduced no new principle; for the senate 

had often supplied the popu- 
lace with cheap or free 
grain, and each noble sup- 
ported a throng of clients. 
He merely detached the peo- 
ple from their several pa- 
trons and enlisted them in 
the support of his reforms. 
Thus he organized the army 
of the revolution, which 
even the strongest emperors 
could not disband. His 
system wrought mischief in 
draining the treasury and 
in encouraging idleness; the 
completion of his great re- 
forms, however, would prob- 
ably have corrected the 
evil. 

Next he formed of the 
knights a rank wholly dis- 
A.N Old Shepherdess tinct from the senatorial no- 

(Palace of the Conservatori, Rome ; found bility, and WOn them tO 

on the Esquiline.) 

himself by making them 
alone eligible to the juries in place of the senators, who 
had corrupted the courts. As Gains himself had the 
power to say who of the knights should be jurors, he 
probably selected only men of good character and held 
them responsible. But when his death freed them from 




His Administration 157 

control, they showed themselves more corrupt than the 

senators had ever been. It was in the interest of the 

knights, too, that he let out the revenues from the province 

of Asia to contractors. Hitherto it had paid a fixed sum 

each year; now the act of Gains delivered it over to the P. 132. 

publicans. Had he lived, he might in time have remedied 

this abuse; but history condemns him for staking the hap- Cf. Plutarch, 

piness of the provincials, whom he doubtless loved, on his ' ^^^^ ^^' 

perilous game of politics. He was boldly concentrating 

all his resources, and gathering supporters for the one 

measure on which he had set his heart, — the enfranchise- P. 158- 

ment of all the Italians. This chief point in his policy we 

shall consider later. 

Meantime we see his hands busy in every part of the Hisgrreatad- 
. , 1 r ministrative 

state and empire. He passed laws to prevent the draft- ability. 

ing of boys under military age; to supply the troops with 
clothes at the public expense; to hinder the senate from 
appointing favorites to governorships of the best provinces; 
to plant colonies in Italy and the provinces, in which all 
Italians who took part should receive the Roman citizen- 
ship. He built roads and public granaries; "and he made 
himself director and superintendent for carrying all these 
measures into effect. Though engaged in so many great 
undertakings, he never wearied, but with wonderful activity 
and labor he effected every single object as if he had for 
the time no other occupation, so that even those who 
thoroughly hated and feared him were struck with amaze- Plutaidi, c;. 
ment at the rapidity and perfect execution of all that he '^''''^''^"'■''^' 
undertook. But the people looked with admiration on the 
man himself, seeing him attended by crowds of iTuilding 
contractors, artificers, ambassadors, magistrates, soldiers, 
and learned men, to all of whjm b,c was easy of access; 
and while he maintained his dignity, he was affable to all, 



158 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



His plan of 
government. 

Botsford, 
Greece, 
p. 177. 



P. 157. 



The aristo- 
crats kill 
him. 

Pp. 136, 149. 



and adapted his behavior to the condition of every indi- 
vidual, and so proved the falsehood of those who called 
him tyrannical, or arrogant, or violent." He was even a 
greater administrator than orator. It is astonishing to see 
the office of tribune, once so insignificant, become for a 
time the controlling power of the state and empire. 

Gaius had thought out a complete plan of reform. For 
the government, he would have in the tribunate an absolute 
ministry, like the office of general at Athens under Peri- 
cles, dependent only on the will of the people, — a minis- 
try which should control the composition of the courts, and 
the decrees of the senate, select candidates for the high 
offices, and watch over the entire administration. He 
would plant industrial as well as farming colonies in Italy 
and the provinces, to restore to them the prosperity which 
the nobles had destroyed. He would give the full citizen- 
ship to the Latins and at least the suffrage to the Italian 
allies. 

His great mistake was in supposing the city mob to be 
the Roman people, — to have the virtue necessary for the 
support* of his reforms. Angered by his proposal to give 
the franchise to the Italians, it defeated this measure and 
failed to elect him to a third term. The knights, too, 
deserted him. When the senate tried to prevent him from 
planting a colony at Carthage, both parties resorted to vio- 
lence. The consul Opimius, armed by the senate with 
absolute power, ^ overthrew the Gracchan party, and killed 

1 In the Second Punic V\"ar the dictatorship had fallen into disuse, 
to be revived some time after the Gracchi by Sulla. Meanwhile the 
senate found a new way of proclaiming martial law ; by passing the 
resolution, "Let the consuls see that the state suffer no harm," it con- 
ferred upon the chief magistrates a power equal to that of dictator. 
Opimius was the first to receive this absolute authority from the sen- 
ate ; Cicero held it also in the conspiracy of Catiline ; p. 182. 



CJiai'acter of the Gracchi 159 

Gaius, with three thousand of his followers. But the aris- 
tocracy was broken forever; the authority it was to exercise 
from time to time rested on the capricious favor of the 
rabble. 

All agree that while the motives of the Gracchi were The charac- 
good, their methods were violent. It is commonly said, Qracchi 
too, that they showed the zeal of heroes and martyrs rather 
than the wise patience of statesmen. We must grant, how- 
ever, that as no material existed from which a party of 
reform could be organized, revolution was the only pos- 
sible remedy for the intolerable condition of the Roman 
world. In further justification of their policy, it is fair 
to add that the imperial government to which their revo- 
lution led, and of which Gaius sketched^ the plan, was far 
better than the anarchy into which the senate was plunging 
the world. "The people, though humbled and depressed 
for a time, soon showed how much they desired and 
regretted the Gracchi. For they had statues of the two Plutarch, G. 
brothers made and set up in public places, and the spots ^^^'^^^^^^ ^^' 
on which they fell were declared sacred ground, to which 
the people brought all the first-fruits of the seasons, and 
offered sacrifices there and worshipped just as at the tem- 
ples of the gods." They were right in enshrining the 
sons of Cornelia as the noblest characters the history of 
their country had brought to light. 

The death of Gaius restored the senate to power, — not. The senate 

however, to its former independent position, for hence- P^^ysthe 

demagogue, 
forth it could maintain its leadership only by feeding the pp. 149, 156. 

rabble. The insolence of the aristocracy stirred up ene- 
mies; at the same time it was too weak to command 
respect at home or to protect the empire. These funda- 
mental defects were already undermining the republic, 
prepara'ory to the founding of a juster and more efficient 



i6o 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



GaiusMarius. 



Plutarch, 
Atari us, 3. 



Sallust, 
Jugurthi7ie 
War, 63. 



His early 
career. 



government. Tiberius Gracchus had made the people 
conscious of their power; Gains had organized the army 
of revolution, which could tear down, while it lacked the 
wisdom and the virtue of a builder. A ministry which 
rested on the fickle mob could save neither state nor 
society. The work of establishing in the army a solid 
foundation for the new government remained to his suc- 
cessor. Gains Marius. 

This man, a native of Arpinum in the hills of Latium, 
was the son of poor parents. In boyhood "his mode of 
life was rude, when contrasted with the artificial fashions 

of a city, but temperate 
and in accordance with 
the old Roman disci- 
pline." "As soon as he 
became old enough to bear 
arms, he employed him- 
self not in the study of 
Greek eloquence or in 
learning the refinements 
of the city, but in military 
service; and thus by the 
strictest discipline his 
excellent genius soon at- 
tained full vigor." "He 




Youth Reading at a Book-case 

(Relief on a sarcophagus.) 



had industr}', integrity, great knowledge of war, and a 
spirit undaunted in the field; he was temperate in private 
life, superior to pleasure and riches, and ambitious only 
for glory." 

As tribune of the plebs, 119 b.c, he offended the nobles 
by passing a law for checking bribery at the polls; and he 
angered the rabble by opposing a bill for the distribution 
of cheap grain. Himself a peasant, he stood forth as a 



JugiirtJiine War l6i » 

protector of his own class. His policy was that of Manius P. 144 f. 
Curius Dentatus and of Cato. In addition to a tribune- 
ship of the plebs and of the soldiers, "he attained other Saliust, 
offices in succession, and conducted himself so well in his J^gi^^'thme 

War, 63. 

public duties that he was always deemed worthy of a higher 
station than he had reached." As propraetor he ruled Far- 
ther Spain, and "cleared all the robber establishments out Plutarch, 
of his province, which was still an uncivilized country." ^''^'^.6. 
On his return to Rome he married Julia of the illustrious 
house of the Caesars; and when, in 109 B.C., the consul 
Metellus went to Africa to war against the Numidians, he 
took Marius with him as lieutenant. 

Nothing shows the weakness and depravity of the aris- Thejugur- 
tocracy more clearly than this war. Jugurtha, grandson of ii2-io6b'c 
Masinissa, attempted to oust his two cousins from their p. 123. 
share of the government of Numidia. Though the senate 
intervened, Jugurtha by a free use of gold bought off one 
of its commissions after another. Meantime he bribed 
men to kill a cousin; he then waged war upon the other, 
took him captive, and tortured him to death. When com- 
mercial interests led Rome to war against him, he bribed Saiiust, 
the first commander to withdraw from Africa, and by cor- 7"^"^'^^^^"^ 

' ^ H 'ar, 27-38. 

rupting the officers of the second, he compelled the sur- 
render of their army, and sent it under the yoke. In the 
interval between these campaigns, the villain even ventured 
to Rome, where he purchased friends and assassinated a 
rival. As he set out for home from the capital of the 
world, he is said to have exclaimed, "A city for sale and 
doomed to destruction, if only a purchaser appears ! " Such 
was the state of affairs when Metellus, a man of energy and 
of excellent character, the best noble of his time, took 
command. He reduced the army to discipline and defeated 109-108 h.c. 
Jugurtha; after which, Marius, elected consul, superseded 107-10515.0. 

M 



1 62 



From Phitocracy to Militarism 



p. 131. 



The Cimbri 
and the 
Teutons. 

Plutarch , 
Mar ins, 11, 



102 B.C. 



The reorgani- 
zation of the 
army. 



Sallust, 
Jugurth'me 
War, 86 ; 
Plutarch, 
Marius, 9. 



his former commander and ended the war. Lucius Cor- 
nelius Sulla, a young aristocrat who was quaestor under 
Marius, took Jugurtha captive and brought him to Rome, 
where he perished in prison. 

Marius had not yet arrived at Rome when the people 
reelected him consul to protect the country from an inroad 
of barbarians. Two powerful German tribes, the Cimbri^ 
and the Teutons, moved westward from the region of the 
Danube into Transalpine Gaul and assailed the new prov- 
ince Rome had established on the coast between the Alps 
and the Pyrenees. In the course of this movement, the 
barbarians defeated six Roman armies in succession. They 
threatened to invade Italy; but a delay of three years, 
during which they wandered about in Gaul and Spain, gave 
the Romans time to prepare. Reelected consul year after 
year, Marius busied himself with reorganizing and training 
the army. When at length the Teutons were ready to cross 
the Alps into Italy, he met them at Aquae Sextiae in south- 
ern Gaul, and annihilated their great host. In like man- 
ner he and his colleague, Catulus, in the following year, 
slaughtered the Cimbri at Vercellse in northern Italy, after 
they had succeeded in crossing the Alps. These decisive 
victories saved the civilization of the Roman empire from 
being overwhelmed by the barbarians. 

But this success was won by an important departure from 
republican principles. Heretofore the soldiers possessed 
at least a small amount of property, which attached them 
loyally to the state; but as there was a lack of men thus 
qualified for serv'ice, ^Marius accepted volunteers from the 
lowest class of rural laborers, including those who were 
entirely without property. Such persons now sought a live- 

1 Though some believe the Cimbri to have been Celts, the better 
authorities favor the view presented in the text. 



Saturniniis and Glaucia 163 

lihood in military service, and looked upon dismissal as a 
misfortune. As no tie of property bound them to the 
state, they began to place all their hopes in their com- 
mander and were ready to follow him in any undertaking. 
At the same time Marius dispensed with the Roman cav- p. 140. 
airy, an aristocratic body, for which he substituted the 
more efificient and more obedient horsemen of the allies. 
He improved the legion by grouping three maniples in a P. 46 f. 
cohort, which he employed as the tactical unit. All the 
soldiers were now equipped alike, and depended for their 
rank and honor, not on length of service as formerly, but 
on the favor of the commander. By these changes he 
prepared an army which would support its commander in 
any ambitious design, even against the senate and the 
people. It is of great political importance, too, that in 
defiance of the constitution, the people elected Marius to P. 88. 
the consulship six times in rapid succession. With his ^°7. 104-100 

B.C. 

absolute command of the army he acquired, by this long 
continuance in office, a power little less than that of king. 

In his sixth consulship, 100 B.C., he allied himself with Marius allies 
Saturninus, a tribune, and Glaucia, a praetor, to carry a g^T^^ • ^^ 
law for planting colonies of his veterans in the provinces, and Glaucia. 
Glaucia was a witty orator, Saturninus a bold revolutionist. 
When some of the tribunes vetoed the bill, he'snatched it Livy (epit- 
from the clerk and himself continued the reading. As his *^"^^-' ^'^' 

^ Plutarch, 

colleagues ordered the voting stopped, he drove them from Marius, 28- 
the rostra. Then the opposing party declared they heard 3o; Appian, 
a clap of thunder, — an ill omen which should have dis- j 28-33. 
solved the assembly. "Take care," Saturninus replied, 
"or the thunder will be followed by hail!" In his sup- 
port, the rural party then drove their opponents — the 
rabble — from the assembly and passed the measure. 
Though Marius had his heart set upon the plan, he dis- 



164 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



Violent death 
of Saturni- 
nus and 
Glaucia. 

P. 75. 



Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
i. 32. 



The meaning 
of this vio- 
lence. 



Appian, i. 33. 



The failure 
of Marius. 

P.- 149. 
P. 159. 



approved the illegality and the violence with which it was 
carried. 

On the day for the election of the next consuls, when 
Glaucia presented himself as the candidate of the rural 
plebs, a fight between them and the city rabble broke up 
the assembly. Then the senators and the knights called 
upon Marius as chief magistrate to put down the sedition. 
Reluctantly he armed some of his forces to defend the 
constitution against Saturninus and Glaucia, his former asso- 
ciates. After some time they surrendered "on the public 
faith"; and though their enemies demanded their death, 
"he placed them in the senate-house with the intention of 
treating them in a more legal manner. The mob consid- 
ered this a mere pretext. It tore the tiles off the roof and 
stoned them to death, including a quaestor, a tribune, and 
a praetor, who were still wearing their insignia of office." 

" Freedom, democracy, laws, reputation, official position 
were no longer of any use to anybody, since even the 
tribunician office, which had been devised for the restraint 
of wrong-doers and for the protection of the plebeians, and 
was sacred and inviolable, now committed such outrages, 
and suffered such indignities." 

In favor of Saturninus and Glaucia, it must be said that 
they had at their back the rural plebeians, who, though 
revolutionary, were the only morally sound party in the 
state, while the senate depended upon the unprincipled 
city rabble. The revolutionary leaders, although baser and 
more violent than the Gracchi, were carrying out the work 
of those reformers. Had Marius been as great a statesman 
as general, he would have cast his lot with them, and from 
the sedition of the Forum he would have emerged a king. 
The time was ripe for the change; the interest of the 
empire demanded it. But lacking political wisdom, he 



Marcus Livhis Dnisjis 



165 



failed to read the signs of the time. In fact too great 
success was rapidly undermining his hardy, peasant char- 
acter. He missed his 
destiny; and the fate of 
Rome passed into other 
hands. 

The senate found itself 
encompassed on all sides 
by enemies: the knights, 
who controlled the courts, 
terrorized it with their 
prosecutions ; the mob 
breathed jealousy and 
hatred while it clamored 
for bread ; . the rural 
plebeians threatened at 
any moment to invade 
the Forum and trample 
upon the government; at 
the same time the op- 
pressed Italians were on 
the point of rebellion. 
These conditions led 
some of the more liberal aristocrats to think of winning the 
support of the Italians by granting them the citizenship. 
The leader of this movement, Marcus Livius Drusus, a 
young man of great wealth and illustrious family, became 
tribune of the plebs in 91 b.c. He proposed cheap corn, 
colonization, the division of the courts between an equal 
number of senators and knights, and the enfranchisement 
of the Italians. Though by this variety of measures he 
intended to attract all classes of citizens, all found in them 
something to condemn. They passed with difficulty, but 




The senate 
in difficulties. 

P. 156. 



Ax Old Fisiikk.man 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



P. 155. 

Marcus 
Livius 
Drusus. 
91 B.C. 

Livy (epit- 
ome) Ixxi. ; 
Velleius Pa- 
terculus, ii. 
13-14; Ap- 
pian, Civil 
Wars, i. 
35-37- 



1 66 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



The Varian 
law. 

The disap- 
pointment of 
the Italians. 
Diodorus 
xxxvii ; Livy 
(epitome) 
Ixxii-lxxvi ; 
Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
i- 38-53. 



The Social 
War, 90-88 
B.C. 



Mommsen, 
Rome,\i\i.Y^ . 
ch. vii. 



were annulled by the senate; and soon afterward Drusus 
was murdered. A law was then passed which threatened 
with prosecution any one who dared aid the Italians in 
acquiring the citizenship. 

The death of Drusus and the passing of this act deprived 
the Italians of their last hope of obtaining their rights by 
peaceable means. It was not that they wished to vote at 
Rome; for most of them lived too far away for this. But 
they needed the protection which citizenship gave : their 
soldiers desired humane treatment at the hands of the 
commanders; in the affairs of peace, they asked for the 
same rights of property and of trade which the Romans 
had always enjoyed; but most of all, they desired Roman 
officials and private citizens to cease insulting, scourging, 
and killing them for amusement or spite. So much citizen- 
ship would have meant to them. 

Accordingly, in 90 B.C., the allies, chiefly those of Sabel- 
lian race, revolted, and founded a new state. As their 
capital, they selected Corfinium in the country of the Pae- 
lignians, and named it Italica. In the rnain they patterned 
their government after that of Rome; they gave the citizen- 
ship to all who took part with them in the war; and they 
aimed to annex the whole of Italy. As the opposing forces 
were divided into several small armies, the military opera- 
tions were intricate. Though fighting against great odds, 
the Italians were so successful the first year that, near its 
close, the consul Lucius Julius Caesar felt compelled to 
make sure of those who were still faithful by giving them 
the citizenship. Soon afterward another law offered the 
same reward to those who would return to their allegiance. 
"Accordingly the gates of Roman citizenship, which had 
so long remained closed against entreaty, now suddenly 
opened when the sword knocked at them." These con- 



The Italians as Citizens 167 

cessions not only prevented the revolt from extending itself, 

but so weakened it that, in another year, the Romans broke 

the strength of the allies. 

In addition to local self-government in their own towns^ The Italians 
... , ^ ,. 1 1 -r» •^- as Roman 

— municipia, — the Italians now possessed the Roman citi- citizens. 

zenship. But they were degraded by being enrolled in 
eight new tribes, which voted after the old thirty-five. Too 
far away to enjoy all their privileges, they envied and hated 
the city plebs, who in turn despised the municipals, and P. 63. 
still looked upon themselves as the only qualified Romans, 

— qualified for receiving cheap corn and witnessing free Pp. 135, 156. 
shows. Had the Italians secured representation in the 

senate, their fresh blood and superior virtue might have P. 135. 
saved the republic. But as matters were, they still regarded 
the senate and the rabble as their oppressors, and they 
therefore welcomed the strong man, who, as absolute mas- 
ter, should make these enemies his footstool. Hence the 
idea of monarchy grew apace. 

Accordingly politics took a new turn; the questions of a new era in 
the future were, who was to be the man of power, and ^° ^ ^^^' 
how much authority was he to snatch from the senate. The 
first conflict came between the veteran Marius and Sulla, 
his quaestor of the Jugurthine War. The latter, patrician P. 162. 
though poor, was a lover of vice and of low company, but 
endowed with a remarkable talent for war, diplomacy, and 
politics. "His eyes were an uncommonly pure and pierc- 
ing blue, which the color of his face rendered still more Plutarch, 
terrible, as it was spotted with rough, red blotche;s inter- ^"^^^' ^' 
spersed with white, . . . amulberry besprinkled with meal." 
Success as a general in the Social War brought him the 
consulship in 88 B.C. 

In this year the attention of Rome was called to the Conflict be- 

. tween Marius 

Last, where Mithridates, the able and ambitious king of andSuiia. 



i68 



From Plutocracy to Militarism 



Sulpicius, 
tribune in 8 
B.C. 

Plutarch, 
Marius, 35. 



Marius and 
Cinna, 87 

B.C. 



Pontus, a country on the south shore of the Black Sea, 
had rapidly extended his power, and was driving the 
Romans from Asia Minor. Naturally Sulla, as consul, 
received the command against this dreaded enemy. But 
Marius, who though old and fat was still vigorous, wanted 
the place that he might regain the influence he had lost. 
He found a helper in Sulpicius, tribune of the plebs, the 
"grandest and most tragic orator" Cicero ever heard. 
Supported by the Italians, to whom he promised enrol- 
ment in the old tribes, and by a band of armed followers, 
this man violently forced through the assembly a resolution 
for the appointment of Marius. Sulla, still consul, led his 
army to Rome and settled the question with the sword. 
Sulpicius was killed; Marius fled to Africa. This was the 
first time the army appeared on the political stage; it 
marked a crisis in the history of the republic. The leader- 
ship of the revolution passed from the tribunes to the gen- 
erals. Henceforth the sword was to arbitrate between 
political rivals; and the successful commander was to rule 
the Roman world. After restoring the authority of the 
senate and giving it complete power over the acts of the 
tribunes, Sulla proceeded with his army to the war against 
Mithridates. 

No sooner had he left Italy than an armed conflict broke 
out between the consuls, Octavius and Cinna, over the 
enrolment of the Italians in the old tribes. In this 
struggle ten thousand men lost their lives. Octavius, 
leader of the aristocracy, drove Cinna, champion of the 
Italians, from the city. The senate deposed the popular 
leader from the consulship. But Cinna quickly gathered 
an army of Italians, recalled Marius from banishment, 
and following the example of Sulla, marched against 
Rome. Marius returned from an exile which had been to 



Progress of the Revolution 169 

him a series of adventures and of hair-breadth escapes. 
In his old age, the greatness of his character had changed 
to rabid fury against the aristocrats. " Filthy and long- 
haired, he marched through the towns presenting a pitiable Appian, 
appearance, descanting on his battles, on his victories over . '^^ ^^^' 
the Cimbri, and his six consulships," and with grim 
determination promised the Italians their rights. His 
resolution was unbroken; for he was superstitious, and he 
remembered, so at least he asserted, that when he was a 
boy, an eagle's nest containing seven little ones had fallen • 
into his lap, — an omen that he should be consul seven Plutarch, 
times. The two revolutionary leaders entered the city ^'^''""> 3 • 
with their bands of Italians, foreigners, and runaway slaves. 
They killed Octavius and all the eminent aristocrats; for 
five days they hunted down their opponents, massacred 
them, and plundered their property. They gave the 
Italians their rights. Marius received his seventh con- 
sulship, but died soon afterward from drinking. 

The story of Marius and Cinna seems like the last act The revoiu- 
of a terrible drama. By the murder of Tiberius Gracchus ^ress^eTiike a 
and his followers, the senate had stained itself with blood; drama, 
thence it advanced to the greater crime of killing Gains 
Gracchus and his three thousand supporters. This base 
and murderous policy, further developed in the war with 
Jugurtha and in the events which cluster about the Italian 
revolt, roused violent enemies; and finally Marius appears 
like an avenging P'ury of the Gracchan party, to scourge 
the aristocracy for its enormous sins. 

Blood and violence settle nothing; what has seemed 
the end of strife is but the beginning of civil wars and 
massacres. 

Meantime the province of Asia welcomed Mithridates 
as a saviour from Roman avarice; by order of the king, 



I/O 



Fjvjn Plutocracy to Militarism 



The first war eighty thousand Italians throughout that country were 
^\es 88-8 " iT^urdered in a single day. Greece revolted to him; his 
B.C. armies occupied Thrace and Macedonia. Sulla then took 

the field; and "within less than three years he had killed 
a hundred and sixty thousand men, recovered Greece, 
Appian, Macedonia, Ionia, Asia, and many other countries that 

Civil Wars, Mithridates had previously occupied, taken the king's fleet 




Roman Soldiers Marching 



away from him, and from such vast possessions restricted 
him to his paternal kingdom alone." As he saw that his 
opponents at home were revelling in power, he patched up 
83 B.C. a hasty treaty of alliance with the king, and " returned with 

a large and well-disciplined army, devoted to him and 
elated by its exploits. He had abundance of ships, money, 
and apparatus suitable for all emergencies, and was an 
object of terror to his enemies." A civil war broke out 



Civil War l/l 

between him and the democratic party, which still held the civii war be- 

1 ... ^. 1 -n 1 • tween Sulla 

government. At the very beginning, Cinna was killed m a and the 

mutiny; and the command of the popular forces passed to democrats. 
Carbo and the son of Gains Marius as consuls. 

Sulla gained ground by treachery, corruption, and diplo- The success 
macy, as well as by force; the fox in him was more danger- 
ous than the lion. In despair Carbo fled to Africa; the Appian i. 92. 
young Marius was blockaded in Prseneste. Then Pontius, 
leader of the Samnites, who acted in unison with the 
popular party, with seventy thousand hill-men, swooped 
down upon Rome, — ^"the last blind rush of the Sabellian Beesiy, 
bull on the lair of the wolves." They longed to destroy ,5^'^.'^ '' 

•^ " -^ Marius, and 

the tyrant city; but Sulla met them outside the Colline ^w/a, p. 185. 
Gate, in the fiercest battle of the war. Here the aristo- 
cratic cause triumphed; and Rome gained her last victory 
over Samnium. Although in Africa Carbo continued the 
struggle, and in Spain Sertorius, a far abler man, in Italy P. 176. 
Marius committed suicide and his party collapsed. By 
wholesale massacres the victor nearly exterminated the 
Samnite race, and thus wrung from Italy the strength and 
the soul of freedom. 

The elder Marius, originally sound, had degenerated in The proscrip- 
his old age; Sulla, though perhaps he cared for nothing 
but pleasure, showed himself, nevertheless, from the begin- Livy (epit- 
ning an expert in cool-headed, cynical villany. When his ^"^^^ xxxix. , 
army had given him the mastery of Rome, he proceeded Suila,^o?i\ 
with reckless butchery to destroy the opponents of his ^PP^^"' 

Civil Wars, 

party. Day by day he posted a list of his victims — "the i. ntff. 
proscribed " — whom any one might slay and receive there- 
for a reward. The goods of the proscribed were confis- 
cated, and their children disfranchised. The number of 
persons thus murdered at Rome amounted to nearly five 
thousand, including many senators and knights. Though 



/. 



1/2 



From P Intocracy to Militarism 



Sulla restores 
the aristoc- 
racy. 



some died for their political attachments, many were the 
victims of private hatred, and many more were killed for 
the sake of their wealth. At the same time, murder and 
confiscation were carried on over all Italy. No one dared 
shelter a victim, not even children their parents. This 
Satanic law, while branding kindness and affection as 
criminal, placed a premium upon malice, greed, and 
murder. 

After a time Sulla assumed the dictatorship, an office 
long disused, and put his hand to the work of restoring 

the aristocratic consti- 
tution. As many seila- 
tors had perished 
through war and pro- 
scription, he permitted 
the tribal assembly to 
elect three hundred 
new members from his 
partisans among the 
knights. By enacting 
that no measure should 
be brought before the 
people without the con- 
sent of the senate, — 
a repeal of the Horten- 
sian Law, — he gave 
that body control over 
the assemblies. This 
measure, with another 
which disqualified the 
tribunes from holding 
higher offices, rendered the tribunate impotent and unat- 
tractive to the ambitious. As a consequence the assembly 




"Sulla" 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



Stilla 173 

of tribes became insignificant as compared with that of the 
centuries. 

He increased the number of quaestors and made this The courts 
officfe the regular stepping-stone to the senate. Instead of fg^rates ™^^" 
six praetors there were to be eight, two of whom were still P. 130. 
to have the civil jurisdiction, while the remaining six were 
to preside over criminal courts, several of which were 
newly created. The juries of these courts were to be made 
up wholly of senators, as before the time of Gaius Gracchus. P- 156. 
A man had to be quaestor before he could be praetor, and Pp. 86, 139. 
praetor before consul, and he was not permitted to accept 
the same office within ten years. The praetors and the con- 
suls could hold military commands only in exceptional 
cases; their authority, wholly civil, was limited to Italy 
south of the Rubicon. But on the expiration of their office, p. 130. 
they became promagistrates with military authority for an 
additional year in the provinces. 

On lands made vacant in Italy by war, massacre, and The retire- 
proscription, Sulla settled his hundred and twenty thousand ^^^xo. of 
devoted veterans; and for his personal security he enfran- Suiia. 
chised ten thousand slaves of the proscribed, and named 
them all, after himself, Cornelii. After completing these 
arrangements, he abdicated the dictatorship, to the surprise 
of all, and retired to private life and to the enjoyment of 
literature. Soon afterward he died, and was buried with 
pomp and splendor such as nations rarely display in honor 
even of their kings. 

His increase in the number of courts and of magistrates The character 
was demanded by the growing business of government. J**^""^!^ 
This reform, therefore, remained permanent. The dis- 
tinction, too, between the ci\ il magistrates and the military 
promagistrates, between Italy and the provinces, was a 
great gain, afterward emphasized by the imperial govern- 



174 From Plutocracy to Militarism 

ment. In most other respects, his legislation was in the 
interest of his party, and he furnished no guarantee for its 
continuance. Indeed, his own example of an individual 
exercising absolute power with reckless cruelty was prece- 
dent enough for the overthrow of this very constitution. 
Aristocracy and democracy were now alike impossible. 
Perhaps he knew this, and expected his work to be but 
temporary, — to permit him a few years of quiet enjoy- 
ment. However that may be, he was not yet in his grave 
when his artificial government, built upon so much blood, 
began to totter. 

Sources 

Reading. S2M\xs,l,/ugur thine War; Livy (epitome) Iviii-xc; A.'^^iz.n, Foreign 

Wars, xii. 1-67 ; Civil Wars, i. 7-108 ; Plutarch, Ti. Gracchus ; G. 
Gracchus ; Marius ; Sulla; Sertoriiis ; Lucullus ; Crassus ; Povipey ; 
Velleius Paterculus ii. 2-28 ; Florus iii. 14-21 ; Justin xxxvi. 4 ff ; 
Eutropius iv. 26-v. 9 ; Dio Cassius,, Fragments, 83 ff . (no English trans- 
lation). Cf. Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. vii. 

Modem Works 

Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. IV. chs. i, iii ; Shuckburgh, 
History of Rome, chs. xxxiv-xl ; How and Leigh, History of Rofjie, 
chs. xxxiii-xliv ; Taylor, Constitutional and Political History of Rome, 
chs, ix-xi ; Ihne, History of Rome, bk. VII (entire) ; Mommsen, 
History of Rome, bk. IV (entire); Duruy, History of Rome (II, III), 
chs. xxxviii-xlvii ; Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, I. chs. x-xxix ; 
II. chs. i-xxix ; Beesly, Gracchi, Alarius, and Sulla ; Masom, Decline 
of the Oligarchy (tutorial series) ; Freeman, Historical Essays, II : 
Lucius Cornelius Sulla. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE REVOLUTION— (II) THE MILITARY POWER IN CON- 
FLICT WITH THE REPUBLIC. POMPEY, C/ESAR, AND 
OCTAVIUS (79-27 B.C.) 

Third Period of the Republic — Second Epoch 

" Another age in civil wars will soon be spent and worn, 
And by her native strength our Rome be wrecked and overborne, 
That Rome the Marsians could not crush, who border on our lands, 
Nor the shock of threatening Porsena with his Etruscan bands, 
Nor Capua's strength that rivalled ours, nor Spartacus the stern, 
Nor the faithless AUobrogian, who still for change doth yearn. 
Ay, what Germania's blue-eyed youth quelled not with ruthless sword, 
Nor Hannibal by our great sires detested and abhorred, 
We shall destroy by impious hands imbrued in brother's gore 
And wild beasts of the wood shall range our native land once more." 

Horace, Epodes, 16. 

By appealing to arms in a political dispute, Sulla had The new 

placed the military power above the constitution. After ^haracter of 
■^ -^ ^ the revolu- 

his time the political parties and the government itself tion. 
were frequently at the mercy of the generals. Among the P. 168. 
rising officers of the army Gnseus Pompey seemed most 
fitted to be the heir of Sulla's policy and the defender of 
his constitution. 

While still a young man Pompey had raised an army by pompey. 
his own means,, and had joined Sulla in his war upon the P. 171. 
democrats. He then went to Sicily to suppress the popu- 
lar party in that island. There replying to the complaints of 
some Sicilian allies, he sounded the keynote of the future 

17s 



176 



Militarism against the Republic 



Plutarch, 
Pompey, 10. 



P. 173. 
Cicero, 
Manilian 
Law, 21. 



Sertorius. 

From 82 B.C. 

Plutarch, 
Sertorius. 



— " Do you cite laws to us who have our swords by our 
sides?" When he returned victorious, Sulla hailed him as 
"the Great." Undoubtedly the commander admired the 
able officer, and at the same time thought it well to flatter 
him. Soon after Sulla's death Pompey found another 
opportunity to prove his faithfulness to his master; for 

Lepidus, consul in 78 B.C., 
tried to do away with the 
new government, and the 
next year resorted to arms 
against it. In helping sup- 
press this rebellion, Pompey 
distinguished himself still 
further as a champion of 
the aristocracy against the 
democrats. A good general 
was now needed in Spain; 
and the senate, according to 
Sulla's arrangements, should 
have sent thither as procon- 
sul a man who had already 
been consul. But as it could 
find no able person with this 
qualification, it gave the pro- 
consulship to Pompey, who 
had not filled even the office 
of quaestor. In violating the 
constitution at one point in order to protect it at another, 
the aristocrats showed themselves wretchedly incompetent. 
Sertorius, the ablest Roman of his time, had already 
ruled Spain for several years. He had a senate of his own, 
and as successor to the democratic magistrates whom Sulla 
had overthrown, he claimed to represent the true gov- 




PoMPEY THE Great 

(National Museum, Naples; found 
at Pompeii.) 



Pojnpey i J'J 

ernment of Rome. He was perhaps the first Roman to 
sympathize thoroughly with the governed, to make their 
interests his chief care, to give them the genuine benefits of 
Latin civilization. From love and admiration the natives Appian, 
called him Hannibal. With the small forces at his com- . ^^^ ^^"^' 

1. 112. 

mand he routed the Roman armies sent against him, 
including that of Pompey. Not till Sertorius was mur- 
dered by one of his own generals did Pompey succeed in 76 b.c. 
putting an end to the war. 

Meantime the Roman world was drifting into anarchy, spartacus. 
While Sertorius threatened the rule of the senate, Mithri- 
dates, in alliance with him, was again at war in the East ; at Pp. 170, 179. 
the same time pirates swarmed undisturbed .over the whole 
Mediterranean ; in Italy more than a hundred thousand 
slaves were in revolt. This insurrection was the work of 
Spartacus, a gladiator, who had escaped from a " training 
school " in Capua. For two years he defied Rome and over- 73-71 b.c 
threw her armies. Then the praetor Marcus Licinius Crassus, Plutarch, 
with eight legions, defeated and killed him and dispersed his ^^'^^^"^^ 
army. At the last moment slight aid was given by Pompey, 
who had just returned from Spain. 

Crassus, too, had joined Sulla in the civil war, and had Pompey and 
amassed a colossal fortune, chiefly by buying up the estates '^^ssus,con- 
of the proscribed. His wealth, together with his success in 
the war with Spartacus, brought him great political influence, Plutarch, 
and made him a rival of Pompey. These two generals were J^'"r^y' ^^ > 

^ -^ ° Crassus, 12. 

eager for the consulship, and as the senate hesitated on the 
ground that Pompey had not yet been quaestor or praetor, 
they turned for support to the people, promising them a 
repeal of Sulla's constitutional laws. Elected consuls in 
70 B.C., they restored the power of the tribunes ; they 
divided the juries equally among the senators, knights, and P. 173. 
tribal officers ; and under their influence the censors of the 

N 



178 Militai'ism against the Republic 

year purged the senate of some of the worst partisans of 
Sulla. Thus the aristocratic government, after standing but 
ten years, was overthrown by the man its founder had styled 
" the Great." This was a victory, not so much of the de- 
mocracy, as of the army ; for the tribunes when restored 
began to attach themselves to the service of the great mili- 
tary leaders. 

Character of Pompey was a better Marius. A talented commander, 
honest and humane, he was no statesman. Conservative 
on principle, he had aided the new democratic movement 
without taking the lead of it. Hence, as he had no party 
at his back, he was compelled, at the end of his consulship, 
to retire to private life. Attached to the aristocratic con- 
stitution as a whole, yet neglectful of its details, in politics 

P. 160. he represented the mihtary power now sleeping, but soon 

to awaken at the call of a tribune. 

The Gabinian The pirates in their thousand ships were seizing cities, 
aw, 7 B.C. capturing Roman nobles and magistrates, whom they held 

Plutarch, for ransom, and by cutting off the grain supply were threat- 

Pompey, 24. ening Rome with famine. As the senate seemed powerless 
to check the evil, Gabinius, a tribune, proposed to give 
Pompey for three years absolute command of the Mediter- 
ranean together with a strip of its coast, fifty miles wide, 
as far as the Roman empire extended. He was to have a 
vast number of ships and men and could draw on the treas- 
ury without limit. Though the senate opposed the law 
because it gave so much power to one man, the people car- 
ried it with enthusiasm. Within forty days after his arma- 
ment was ready, Pompey cleared the sea of pirates. He 
destroyed their hive in Cilicia and made of that country 
a Roman province. This success is an indication, not of 
genius, but of what Rome could accomplish with her vast 
resources rightly managed. The appointment itself was an 



Mithridates 1 79 

admission that the senate was unable to meet the trivial 
emergency of putting down the pirates ; a temporary mon- 
archy had to be created for the purpose, or rather a division 
of power between the senate and the commander. This 
arrangement, which we may term a dyarchy — rule of two — p. 210. 
was to become the chief principle of the imperial govern- 
ment. 

For several years Lucullus, a luxurious noble, had been Mithridates. 
conducting the war against Mithridates, king of Pontus, with P. 177. 
moderate success. This king was a remarkable person. 
" He was always high-spirited and indomitable even in 
misfortunes. Until finally overthrown he left no avenue of 
attack against the Romans untried. He made alhances with Appian, For- 
the Samnites and the Gauls, and he sent le2:ates to Serto- ^'^"' ^'^' 

° _ XII. 112. 

rius in Spain. Though he was often wounded by enemies 
and conspirators, he never desisted from anything on that 
account, even when he was an old man. . . . He was blood- 
thirsty and cruel to all — the slayer of his mother, his 
brother, three sons, and three daughters. His frame was 
large . . . and so strong that he rode horseback and hurled 
the javelin to the last, and could ride a thousand furlongs 
a day, changing horses at intervals. He used to drive a 
chariot with sixteen horses at once. In his study of Greek, 
he became acquainted with the religious worship of Greece, 
and was fond of music." Before Lucullus could conquer TheManilian 
him, a law of the tribune Manilius gave the command in the ^"^^^'' ^^ ^•*-" 

Cicero, Ma- 

East to Pompey in addition to the power he already had. mlian Law. 
The new Roman commander easily drove the king from 
Pontus, the most of which he joined to the new province of 
Bithynia. 

He then annexed Syria as a province to the empire, thus Pompey's 
extending the dominion of Rome to the Euphrates. Tak- t^^E^t""* °* 
ing advantage of a civil war in Judea, he subdued that coun- 



i8o 



Militarism against tJie Republic 



The conspir- 
acy of Cati- 
line, 63 B.C. 



Plutarch, 
Cicero. 
Cicero, Ora- 
tions against 
Catiline ; 
Suetonius, 
J. Ccesar, 9 ; 
Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
ii. 2-7, 

Sallust, Cati- 
line, 5. 



try ; in the temple at Jerusalem he entered the Holy of 
Holies and looked with wonder upon this shrine which con- 
tained no image. He left undisturbed a few small kingdoms 
in and about Asia Minor, whose rulers though allies in 
name were really vassals of Rome. With the great Parthian 
empire beyond the Euphrates, he made a treaty of friend- 
ship. Like Alexander the Great he founded many cities, 
whose Greek names show he intended that Hellenic civihza- 
tion should control Rome's Eastern possessions. His care- 
ful organization of the newly acquired territory remained 
the basis of future arrangements. With her dependent allies 
and her provinces, Rome now occupied the entire circuit of 
the Mediterranean. 

In the absence of Pompey, important events were taking 
place at Rome. Cicero, a native of Arpinum, the birth- 
place of Marius, became consul in 63 B.C. Though he was 
from a municipium and a man of moderate means, his 
brilliant oratory and his administrative ability won for him 
the highest offices at Rome. In his consulship a conspiracy, 
which for some time had been forming on a vast scale, threat- 
ened to destroy the government. The leader, " Lucius Cati- 
line, was a man of noble birth and of" eminent mental and 
personal endowments, but of a vicious and depraved dispo- 
sition. His dehght from his youth had been in civil com- 
motions, bloodshed, robbery, and sedition ; and in such 
scenes he had spent his early years. His constitution could 
endure hunger, want of sleep, and cold to a degree surpass- 
ing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and versatile, 
capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished. 
Covetous of other men's property, he was prodigal of his 
own. With abundance of eloquence, he had little wisdom. 
His insatiable ambition was always pursuing extravagant, 
romantic, and unattainable objects." This picture by a 



Cicero 



I8l 



contemporary writer, though overdrawn, shows at least the 
kind of character the age could produce, — high personal 
and mental endowments combined with monstrous moral 
depravity. He attached to himself the most vicious and 
desperate men of Italy : the remnant of the Marian party, 
who sought justice for the murders and confiscations of 




Cicero 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



Sulla ; the tools of that great aristocrat, now out of employ- 
ment ; his veterans, who had abandoned their farms in 
search of more exciting and more profitable work ; and 
lastly, delinquent debtors, gamblers, and assassins. While 
the head of the conspiracy was at Rome, its members 
extended throughout the peninsula. When these anarchists 



I 82 



Militarisvi against the Republic 



P. 158, n. I. 



The policy of 
Cicero. 



P. 86. 

Plutarch, 

Cicero, 49. 

P. i:;6. 



P. 168. 



Gaius Julius 
CcBsar. 

Plutarch, 
CcBsar. 



had their plans well laid for killing the magistrates and the 
nobles and for seizing the government, the vigilant consul 
detected their plot and denounced Catiline before the sen- 
ate. The arch-conspirator fled to the army he had been 
preparing in Etruria, where he was soon afterward defeated 
and killed. Cicero arrested a few of Catiline's chief asso- 
ciates who remained in the city, and by virtue of the dicta- 
torial power given him by the senate, put them to death 
without a trial. 

His success in saving the state from the anarchists made 
Cicero for a time the most eminent man in Rome. From 
mingled admiration and gratitude the people saluted him 
Father of his Country ; and though he was a " new 
man," the senators recognized him as their leader. He 
loved his country well, and was strongly attached to the 
republican form of government. Hence he attempted to 
strengthen the republic by restoring to the knights and the 
senators the harmony Gaius Gracchus had broken. Such a 
remedy, even if practicable, could not long have saved the 
corrupt aristocracy. And in attempting to compromise the 
high ideals of the statesman with the base practice of poli- 
ticians, Cicero found himself carried hither and thither by 
the shifting and uncertain political currents. Such in fact 
had become the condition of public affairs that the states- 
man, however grand, appears strangely dwarfed and out of 
place; for the age -of generals had come, they were the 
only strong men and managed the politicians as their pup- 
pets. It was in vain, therefore, that Cicero hoped to make 
Pompey a defender of the constitution. 

The future was to belong not to Cicero or even to Pom- 
pey, but to Gaius Julius Caesar. He "was still a young 
man, but powerful in speech and action, daring in every 
way, ambitious of everything, and profuse beyond his 



First Triumvirate 183 

means in the pursuit of honors. While yet sedile and Suetonius, 
prsetor, he had incurred great debts and had made himself J' ^^^^''• 
wonderfully agreeable to the multitude, who always sing Appian, 
the praises of those who are lavish in expenditures." One jj ^ 
of the noblest of the patricians, he was leader of the 
people, and in that capacity he restored to honor his uncle 
Marius, now the idealized hero of the commons. While 
advocating the rights of the governed, however, he aimed 
to secure a military command like that of Pompey; and 
in working for this end he showed little regard for moral 
or constitutional principles. For the present he joined 
himself to Crassus, whose wealth, ambition, and political 
incapacity he found useful. 

All were anxiously awaiting the return of Pompey from The First 
the East. While both parties claimed him, some feared "^™"^^^^*® 
he might overthrow the government by means of his army Pompey, and 
and make himself dictator, as Sulla had done. For a time 6obc ' 
he seems to have entertained this idea; but his affection Appian, 
for the constitution, together with a belief that his influ- p"^'^ Wars, 
ence alone would bring him all the honor and power he ^^^^[^ Ccesar 
needed, led him to disband his army and come to Rome 13 f; Sueto- 
as a private citizen. But he was bitterly disappointed. "!"^' •^' , 

•^ ^11 CcEsar, 19 f. 

The senate, which had always distrusted him, hesitated to p j-,„^ 
sanction his arrangements in the East. The great general 
found himself as helpless in politics as Marius had been. 
Thereupon Caesar and Crassus came to his relief with a 
proposal that they three should act together for their mutual 
interests. This combination of the three men, though 
unofficial, is called the First Triumvirate. Pompey con- 
tributed to it his military prestige, Crassus the influence 
of his wealth, and Caesar his commanding intelligence. 
According to agreement Caesar received the consulship in 
59 B.C., and in return secured from the people the ratifi- 



1 84 



Militarism against the Republic 



Caesar pro- 
consul of 
Gaul, 58-49 

B.C. 

Suetonius, 
J. CcBsar, 
22, 2^. 



cation of Pompey's Eastern arrangements. The tribune 
Clodius, acting as the tool of the triumvirs or at least 

58 B.C. under their protection, carried a decree for the ban- 

ishment of Cicero, the strongest supporter of the republic, 
on the ground that in his 'consulship, he had put citizens to 
death without a trial. The people soon recalled him, how- 
ever, and restored him to honor. 

At the close of his term, Caesar as proconsul received for 
five years the government of Cisalpine Gaul, Narbonensis, 
and Illyricum. He now held the kind of position for 
which he had long been striving. Before the end of his 
period of government the triumvirs renewed their alliance.-^ 
Caesar was to have five more years of command in Gaul; 
Pompey and Crassus were to be consuls in 55 b.c, after 
which Pompey was to be proconsul of the two Spains and 
of Africa for five years, and Crassus was to receive the pro- 
consulship of Syria. In this way these men divided among 
them the Roman world. 

In the history of the First Triumvirate the interest 
centres in Caesar. Along the southern coast of what is now 
France, lay Narbonensis. North of this province were the 
still unc9nquered Gauls, chiefly of Celtic race, extending 
northward and westward to the coasts and eastward to the 
Rhine. In civilization these people were decidedly infe- 
rior to the Romans, but had learned to make their living 
chiefly by tilling the soil. East of the Rhine were the 
barbarous, half-nomadic Germans. A crisis in Rome's 

P. 162. relation with these Northern peoples was now at hand, like 

that with which Marius had successfully grappled. A 
powerful German tribe under the chieftain Ariovistus had 
crossed the Rhine and had seized some lands of the 



The Germans 
and the Hel- 
vetians 
threaten 
Rome. 

Caesar, Com- 
mentaries on 
the Gallic 
War. 

Suetonius, 
y. CcBsar, 25. 



1 In a conference held in 56 B.C. at Luca, in northern Italy. 



Ccesar in Gaul 185 

Gauls. This movement was but the beginning of a Ger- 
man migration, which if unchecked would have thrown 
Gaul into commotion, and might have brought both Ger- 
man and Celtic hordes into Narbonensis and even into 
Italy. A more direct menace to Rome came from the 
Helvetians, a great Celtic tribe of the Alps, who were 
abandoning their home in the mountains for the broader 
and more fertile lands of southern Gaul. 

Caesar, who at this time had had little experience in caesar repels 

command, thus found himself confronted by enormous ^ anger 
' •' and conquers 

difficulties and dangers. But the ease with which he Gaui. 

overcame everything in his way marked him at once as a Plutarch, 

great master of the art of war. With wonderful rapidity he ^^^'^^^ ^7 ff- 

gathered his widely scattered forces, enrolled new legions, 

and inspired his raw recruits with the courage and devotion 

of veterans. He immediately defeated the Helvetians with 

great slaughter, and drove the remnant of their host back to 

their former home. In the same summer he won a great 

victory over the Germans and compelled them to recross 

the Rhine. In the following year, as the Belgians of 

northern Gaul threatened to give him trouble, he resolved 

to subdue them. In the invasion of their country he met Csesar, Gai- 

little opposition till he came to the Nervii, the most war- ^'^ ^'^''' 

ii. 16 ff. 
like and the most powerful of the Belgic tribes. These 

people would have nothing of Roman traders in wine and 

other luxuries, for they wished to keep their strength intact 

and their martial fire alive. While Csesar was approaching 

they fell upon him so fiercely that he could neither form 

his line nor give orders. Each soldier was left to his own 

judgment. But the cool courage of the legionaries and the 

heroism of the commander won the desperate fight. Few 

Nervii survived. As a result of the campaign all northern 

Gaul submitted. Next year he attacked the Veneti, who lb. iii. 7 ff. 



i86 



Militarism against the Republic 



Value of the 
conquest. 



Adams, 
French Na- 
tion, p. i8. 

Caesar's mag- 
nificent out- 
look. 



P. 176. 



occupied a strip of the western coast. A maritime people, 
they built their towns on headlands protected on all sides 
by tide waters too shallow for Roman ships. They them- 
selves put to sea in clumsy flat-bottomed boats with leathern 
sails. Caesar made little progress against them till his small, 
light fleet met their bulky navy in the open sea. A happy 
thought occurred to the Romans. With scythes fastened to 
long poles they cut the enemy's tackle so as to disable his 
ships. Victory was then easy; the Veneti with their allies 
submitted. 

In the remaining years of his command Caesar drove 
back another horde of Germans; to check their inroads he 
twice invaded their country. His two voyages to Britain 
prepared the way for the future conquest of that island. 
It was necessary, too, to crush fierce rebellions among his 
new subjects; but though his conquest spread desolation 
and death over the entire country, in the end his just and 
humane settlement of affairs attached the subjects loyally 
to him. All Gaul, at first under one governor, afterward 
became four provinces. It gave new strength to Rome 
and protected the Rhine frontier against the dangerous 
Germans. The new subjects readily learned Latin and 
adopted the Roman dress and customs. Many years after- 
ward the youths of the empire attended the Gallic schools 
to study rhetoric, — " to learn the language of the con- 
querors from the conquered ! History has not many cases 
of this sort to record." 

Caesar's long command gave him an army devoted to 
his cause and a new recruiting ground, for he had already 
enrolled a legion of Gauls. Like Sertorius he learned to 
seek his own interest in the welfare of the governed. Far 
from limiting his benevolence to his own provinces and to 
Rome, he began to furnish the larger cities of Italy, Spain^ 



CcBsar and Pompey 187 

Greece, and Asia with money for public works. At his 
distance from the capital he saw, too, how petty was the 
game of politics in the Forum compared with the states- 
man's work of developing the prosperity and the happiness 
of the provinces. 

Most politicians at Rome thought of a province as noth- End of eras- 
ing but a plundering ground, or, more recently, as a means Jhampion^oT 
of acquiring a military command. Accordingly Crassus, the senate, 
at the end of his consulship, went to Syria, his province, P. 184. 
in the hope of raising an army with which to rival Pompey 
and Caesar. With this end in view he began a needless 
war upon the Parthians, but was defeated and killed by 53 b.c. 
them at Carrhae. Pompey, for his part, instead of going ^^^^^^• 
to his provinces as the law required, administered them 18-28. 
through deputies — an example afterward converted into a P. 209. 
rule by the emperors. He remained in the neighborhood 
of Rome to preserve order; and as the senate was of itself 
unable to prevent anarchy in the city, it made him sole 
consul in 52 B.C., and prolonged his proconsulship five 
years. The aristocrats now looked to him for protection 
from the mighty governor of Gaul, who represented the 
people. 

Pompey had married Caesar's daughter Julia; and as csesarand 

long as she lived the two leaders remained friends. Her ^^"^P^y 
° clash. 

death, however, broke the only bond which united them. Suetonius, 

A clash between them, and between the parties they repre- ^* ^^^^'''• 

26 ff. 
sented, was inevitable. Though for the sake of harmony 

Caesar was willing to concede everything short of self- 
annihilation, the senate was unbending. As his enemies 
threatened to prosecute him when he should become a 
private citizen, he wished to pass immediately from the 
proconsulship of Gaul, ending 49 b.c, to the consulship at 
Rome, 48 B.C. A law of the tribunes gave him permission 



Militarism against the Republic 



p. 210. 



Caesar crosses 
the Rubicon, 
49 B.C. 
Plutarch, 
CcBsar, 32 ; 
Suetonius, 
y. CcBsar, 

31-33- 



Civil war; 
the battle of 
Pharsalus, 

48 B.C. 

Caesar, 
Civil War, 
iii , 73 if. 



to become a candidate for the consulship without appearing 
in person according to custom. Nevertheless in 49 b.c. 
the senate ordered him to lay down his command on pain 
of being declared a public enemy. When the tribunes, 
Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius, vetoed this decree, 
they were harshly treated, and fled thereupon to Caesar's 
camp. In violating the sanctity of the tribunes — the 
mainstay of the constitution — the nobles were preparing 
their own ruin, as their act gave Caesar a pretext for bring- 
ing his army to Rome to protect the sacred office. It is a 
noteworthy fact that the tribunate and the proconsulship, 
thus united against the senate, were to become the two 
chief bases of the imperial government. 

The story is told that at the Rubicon, which separated 
his province from Italy, Caesar hesitated while he dis- 
cussed with his friends the consequences of crossing, like 
an invader, into Italy and of thus making himself an 
enemy to his country: then exclaiming, "The die is cast! " 
he hurried over the river, and with a trumpet summoned 
his troops to follow. Although the anecdote may not be 
true, the crossing of the Rubicon was a crisis in the life of 
Caesar and in the history of his country; for by bringing 
his army into Italy in violation of the law, he began a war 
upon the republic. 

Pompey, with the consuls and many senators, retired to 
the East, where he expected his great influence to bring 
him abundance of supporters and of resources for war. 
Caesar immediately secured control of Italy and Spain. 
His gentleness to opponents and his moderation in reliev- 
ing distressed debtors and in protecting property won the 
hearts of all quiet citizens, and made even many followers 
of Pompey suspect that they had taken the wrong side. 
After setting up a government at Rome, Caesar crossed 



Civil War 189 

to Greece and met his rival at Pharsalus, in Thessaly. 
Although in appearance Pompey championed the senate, 
the real question at issue was which of the two commanders p. r68 
should rule the Roman world. It was a conflict, too, 
between .the East and the West as to which should hold the 
balance of power in the empire. Pompey 's army outnum- 
bered the enemy more than two to one; but the mental 
resources of Caesar, together with the superior manliness 
of the Western troops, won the day. Pompey fled to Egypt; 
and when Caesar reached Alexandria in pursuit, a would-be 
friend brought him the head of his murdered rival. It 
was no welcome gift to the noble victor. 

In Egypt, King Ptolemy had deposed Cleopatra, at once Caesar in 

his wife and sister. But Caesar, sidinsr with the charming f^^ ' 

' ° ° 48-47 i^.c. 

queen, established her as sole monarch. Then while pass- Hirtius(?), 

ing through Syria and Asia Minor he settled the affairs of ^^^^^^^'dnan 

the provinces, and in one battle crushed Pharnaces, son j^^f^^^ ^ 

and successor of Mithridates, thus putting an end to a Pharnaces, 

dangerous enemy. After the victory he sent the senate ^'^ ^'^' 

this brief despatch, — "I came, I saw, I conquered — veni, Battle of 

vidi, vici.'" Another year he defeated the senatorial army Thapsus, 

. . . . 46 B.C. 

at Thapsus in Africa. One of the aristocratic commanders 

in that region was Cato, — honest, loyal, and stubborn, 

yet narrow-minded as had been his great-grandfather, 

the famous censor. In despair of the republic, he killed Battle of 

himself. Soon afterward the victory at Munda in Spain ^" ^' 

45 ^-c. 
destroyed the last opposition to Caesar. 

His wars were ended; for the first time in history the The character 

of Caesar, 
world of the ancients, extending from the Euphrates to 

the Atlantic, bowed to one will. It remains to examine 

the character of the victor and the manner in which he" 

used his power. 

"He was tall and fair, round-limbed, rather full-faced, 



190 



Militarism against the Republic 



Suetonius, 
y. Ccesar, 

45- 



with piercing black eyes." The massive brow, and nose 
shaped like an eagle's beak, show great intellect combined 




Julius C-esar 

(British Museum.) 



with force. "The expression of the frxe is keen, thought- 
ful, and somewhat stern. It is the likeness of a severe 



Ccesar 1 9 1 

schoolmaster of the world." Though in youth he had Fowler, 

^iH Liu f 

indulged in the follies and the dissipation of the young •;-. 

° -r -» o Ccesar, p. 19, 

nobles, though in early manhood he had been a dema- describing a 

ffogue, a spendthrift, and debtor, he emerged from these bust of Caesar 
^ ^ ' \ ' . ' ^ in the British 

corrupting influences with a clear head and a good heart. Museum. 

It is true that he had extorted money from the provincials 
and had sometimes been cruel to prisoners, but mildness 
and humanity grew in him till his noble sympathy encom- 
passed the world. A many-sided man, he was in every 
respect great. He interested himself in grammar, in natu- 
ral science, and astronomy. His story of his own cam- 
paigns is a model historical narrative, — plain, accurate, Caesar, Com- 
and elegant, with no affectation of rhetorical ornament. ^"^^^^^^^-^ ^^^ 

the Gallic 

The simple force of his oratory made him the most impres- j^-^^ and 07i 

sive speaker of his age. Taking command in Gaul when ^^^^ Civil 

above forty years old, with little previous experience, he 

showed an energy, courage, coolness, and fertility of mind 

which make him perhaps the most marvellous character in ^r . 

military history. Above all he was a great creative statesman, 

who, by arresting the decay of ancient civilization, gave the 

old world institutions three centuries more of vigorous life. 

In the settlement of the political and civil troubles he His modera- 
aimed to heal old wounds without inflicting new ones, clemency 
He respected the memory of Sulla and of Pompey; he for- 
gave his enemies and even advanced many of them to 
office. With too great confidence in his fellow-men he 
dismissed his army, and walked in the streets of Rome 
without a guard. 

Caesar did not live long enough to give his government His govem- 
a definite, permanent form. He held at one and the same 
time the offices of consul, censor, and dictator, granted 
him for long periods or for life. He enjoyed, too, the 
authority of the tribunes without the office. As pontifex 



192 



Militarism against the Republic 



His treat- 
ment of the 
assemblies 
and the 
senate. 

P. 172. 



His adminis- 
tration of the 
provinces. 
P. 130 ff. 



maximus he was head of the religion of the empire, and as 
a member of the college of augurs he represented the state 
in its relations with the gods. The combination in his 
own person of the chief religious and civil offices of the 
republic made him king in all but name. In addition to 
these powers he bore the title "imperator," which soldiers 
were accustomed to bestow by acclamation upon a victori- 
ous general. Perhaps Caesar, too, thought of it as a mere 
honor; yet in belonging to him for life, it marks him 
as the first emperor of Rome. The arrangements here 
described seem to have been provisional. Whatever form 
his government might have taken, it would have been in 
fact a strongly centralized monarchy. Apparently he 
wished to make his power hereditary. With this end in 
view, as he had no nearer heirs, he adopted as a son his 
grandnephew Octavius, a youth of remarkable talent. 

Although the assemblies continued to meet, Caesar's exten- 
sive powers left them little to do. The senate, that strong- 
hold of republicanism, while loading him with flattery, was 
in secret his deadly foe. Accordingly he degraded it to 
the condition of an advisory council. Sulla had doubled 
the number of senators; Caesar increased it to nine hun- 
dred by admitting not only knights but also many inferior 
citizens and even some half-barbarous Gauls. Probably 
he wished in time to make it represent the whole empire. 

It is in his administration of the provinces that we find 
most to commend. The evils of aristocratic oppression, 
whose beginnings are described in an earlier chapter, were 
now at their height. No human mind can conceive the 
brutal tyranny of the ruling class or the woe and misery 
which these polite aristocrats had spread over the whole 
civilized world. By destroying the root of the evil, Caesar 
regenerated provincial life. He reduced" taxes, abolished 



His Administration 193 

the system of farming direct revenues, thus preventing the 
capitalists and the publicans from plundering the subject 
races, and placed the imperial finances in the hands of his 
own servants and freedmen, over whom he could exercise 
a severe control. He saw, too, that the governorships 
should be filled with able, honest men. Besides being 
judges and administrators, these rulers commanded the p. 131. 
military force in their districts subject to the emperor, 
while each single legion obeyed an officer Caesar had 
appointed. The governor, surrounded thus by checks 
and guards, and responsible to an exacting master, ceased 
to do evil and devoted himself to the service of the 
emperor, which was at the same time the interest of the 
governed. " The estates of the Roman people, " as the prov- 
inces had been called, were to be cultivated and improved, 
no longer pillaged. Passing beyond the idea of governing 
for mere profit, Caesar established colonies in the prov- 
inces, as Corinth and Carthage, to be centres from which 
Roman civilization should radiate; he aimed, also, to 
extend the citizenship to the provincial towns, one by one, 
till the distinction between governors and governed should 
be wiped out, and the rights of the world should be equal- p. 270. 
ized under a master at once strong and just. 

Even Rome and Italy were in wretched plight. The msimprove- 
work of the Gracchi had been undone and the gulf between ^^^ ^ ^^^ . 

° Rome and in 

the rich and the poor widened. On the one side were the Italy, 
millionaires, less than two thousand in number, with their Pp. 132 f, 134. 
gorgeous villas and their broad estates worked by gangs of P. 342 f. 
slaves; on the other, the miserable poor, of whom many 
flocked to Rome to live as paupers on the public doles of 
grain, while some turned to robbery and others even sold 
themselves as gladiators. As the more enterprising Italians P. 346. 
passed into the army or into provincial business, the free 
o 



194 



Milita7'ism against the Republic 



Mommsen, 
Rome, bk. V 
ch. xi. 



Lex yulia 
Municipalis, 
45 B.C. 



The senators 
murder him. 

Appian, 
Civil Wars, 
ii. 107-117; 
Plutarch, 
Ccssar, 60- 
68 ; Brutus, 
7-17. 



population which remained was fast dying out. There was 
the utmost confusion in the government of the towns, 
brigandage over all the country, and in the capital vice 
surpassing description. To be poor was esteemed ''the 
only disgrace and the only crime." These evil conditions 
Caesar reformed. He planted colonies in desolate places 
and recruited the wasting population of the towns. He 
encouraged agriculture and family life, and cut down the 
number of Roman paupers more than a half, — to a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand. His famous municipal law gave 
the towns a uniform system of free government, which 
gradually extended itself to the provinces. He brought 
new vigor to the criminal courts and to the police, and 
passed laws to restrict luxury. Finally he introduced a 
new calendar, which made the year consist of three hun- 
dred and sixty-five days and six hours, a system which 
continued in force to the sixteenth century a.d. 

Such were Caesar's chief reforms. It is not the storming 
of cities nor the killing of thousands in battle which com- 
mands our admiration, but rather the intelligence and 
good will to men which impelled him to give the world 
well-ordered peace and some degree of happiness which 
should outlive his own life. 

His government was in fact a monarchy; some suspected 
that he desired even the title of king. At all events, he 
was worthy of a crown; and an hereditary kingship would 
have saved the state from another civil war. But the 
aristocrats could not yield forever their own title of lords 
of the earth and their privilege of misrule. While they 
forced upon him honors such as belonged only to the gods, 
they began to plot his murder. Their motives were envy, 
revenge, and political fanaticism. Chief among the con- 
spirators were the "lean and hungry" Cassius, who prob- 



The Conspiracy 195 

ably felt himself slighted in the matter of promotion, and 
Marcus Brutus, a weak, bookish idealist, who in actual life * 
had scarcely more virtue than his fellow-nobles. Alto- 
gether there were about sixty in the plot. As Caesar was 
soon to leave Rome for a war against the Parthians, who 
were annoying the eastern frontier, the conspirators made 
haste to strike the blow. Pretending to urge a petition of 
one of their number, they gathered about him in Pompey's 
new senate-hall and assailed him with daggers. He fell 
stabbed with twenty-three wounds. The senate dispersed. 
Mark Antony, Caesar's colleague in the consulship, deliv- 
ered the funeral oration and read the will, which, by its 
generosity to the citzens, stirred them against the mur- 
derers. The most sincere mourners, however, were the 
provincials who chanced to be in Rome; they wept over 
the ashes of their mighty benefactor, and doubtless dreaded 
the renewed anarchy and terrorism of senatorial rule. 

"He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was He becomes a 
ranked among the gods, not only by formal decree, but ^° 
in the belief of the people. For during the first games Suetonius, 
which Augustus, his heir, consecrated to his memory, a •^' ' ' ' " 
comet blazed for seven days together, rising always about 
eleven o'clock; and it was supposed to be the soul of 
Caesar now received into heaven." 

His death left the consul, Mark Antony, at the head of whowiiisuc- 
the government. As executor of Caesar's will, which he 
falsified at pleasure, he managed Rome and the empire 
with absolute power, while he lorded it over the senate. 
Through fear of him and of the enraged populace, the 
chiefs of the conspirators hurried away to the provinces 
Caesar had given them. Cicero, who approved the assassi- 
nation though he had no hand in it, sailed for Greece, but 
was driven back by a storm. Thereupon he returned to 



196 



Militarism against the Republic 



Botsford, 
Greece, 
p. 304. 



Gaius Julius 
Caesar Octa- 
vianus. 

Suetonius, 
Augustus. 



The Second 
Triumvirate, 
43 B.C. 



Rome to take the lead of the senate against the new tyrant. 
In the next few months he delivered a series of powerful 
invectives against Antony, known as the Philippics, from 
their resemblance to the speeches of Demosthenes against 
Philip of Macedonia. But eloquence had ceased to be a 
force in the world. The republic had perished; the death 
of the monarch was followed by a war of succession, in 
which the adopted heir was to gain the mastery. 

Octavius was pursuing his studies at ApoUonia in lUyri- 
cum, when news came of his great-uncle's death. Though 
his mother and his friends warned him against connect- 
ing himself with Caesar, he started at once for Rome. 
On landing in Italy and learning that he was heir, he 
took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, accord- 
ing to custom. The name worked like a charm. As 
he journeyed toward the capital, Caesar's old soldiers 
flocked to him, offering him their swords to avenge the 
murder. He declined their proposals for the time and 
came almost alone to Rome, into the midst of enemies. 
But he soon gained friends. By promising the people all 
their late ruler had bequeathed them, he readily won their 
hearts; and for a time he sided with the senate against 
Antony. Deceived by his show of frank simplicity, Ctcero 
declared that the young Octavianus was all for the republic. 
In fact this youth of nineteen years had no enthusiasm for 
any cause; in cool cunning he outmatched even the politi- 
cal veterans of the capital. 

He raised an army; and with the new consuls, Hirtius 
and Pansa, he defeated Antony at Mutina, in northern 
Italy. After this victory over their dreaded enemy the 
aristocrats felt that they could now do without the boy, but 
he marched upon Rome and compelled them to make him 
consul, for Hirtius and Pansa had both been killed in the 



Second Triumvirate 197 

battle. The senate thus lost his support. Immediately he 
came to an understanding with Antony, his rival, and with 
Lepidus, Caesar's master of horse, who still held an impor- P. 68. 
tant command. These three men together had forty-three 
legions at their disposal. They made of themselves "tri- Appian, 
umvirs for reestablishing the st^te," — an ofhce they were . '^' ^S^' 

° •' IV. 2 ft ; Sue- 

to hold for five years, with power to dispose of all magis- tonius, Au- 

tracies at will and to issue decrees which should have the ^^^^^^^^ 27; 

Plutarch, 

force of law. The assembly ratified the arrangement, and Afttony,ig^. 

in this way the Second Triumvirate cam.e into being. They 

filled Rome with their troops and renewed the hideous P. 171- 

proscriptions of Sulla. Each sacrificed friends and even 

kinsmen to the hatred of the others. Among the victims 

of Antony was Cicero, the last great orator of the ancient 

world. Though he was vain and wavering, though the 

cause he championed meant anarchy for Rome and misery 

for the provinces, in his heart he was a patriot and a friend 

of liberty. 

Antony and Octavianus led their armies to Macedonia to civii war; 

meet the republican forces which Cassius and Brutus had !?®,^^"^®® °* 
^ Philippi, 

collected there. Two battles were fought near Philippi. 42 b.c. 
After the first, which was indecisive, Cassius killed him- 
self in despair. Brutus, beaten in the second engagement, 
followed the example of his mate; the republican scholar 
could not live under the rule of iron. 

The triumvirs renewed their authority for another five Civiiwar 
years; and when the incompetent Lepidus dropped from AntTnyand 
the board, the two remaining members divided the empire Octavianus. 
between them. Antony ruled the East and Octavianus the Appian, 
West. To cement the alliance, the heir of Caesar gave his ''''^, Z^' 

° V. I ft ; Plu- 

sister Octavia in marriage to his colleague. But trouble tarch, 
soon arose. Though a clever orator, a diplomatist, and ^■i"f<^"y,^3^' 
no mean general, Antony was fond of luxury and of vice. 



198 



Militarism against tJie Repit-blic 



Neglecting his wife and the interests of the state, he spent 
his time with Cleopatra in frivolous dissipation. The 
Italians supposed he intended to make her his queen and 
himself despot of an Oriental empire with Alexandria foi 
his capital. They willingly followed Octavianus, therefore, 
in a war against this national enemy. The fleets of the 
rivals met off Actium on the west coast of Greece, 
31 B.C. Agrippa, an able general, commanded the ships 
of Octavianus against the combined squadrons of Antony 



The battle 
off Actium, 
31 B.C. 




Cleopatra 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 

and Cleopatra. In the early part of the fight this infatu- 
ated pair sailed away, leaving their fleet to take care 
of itself. Agrippa' s light triremes outmanoeuvred the 
ponderous galleys of the enemy, and burned many of 
them with fire-balls. After the battle, Antony's land force 
surrendered. At last when he and Cleopatra committed 
suicide in Alexandria, Octavianus was master of the empire. 
For a time it seemed doubtful whether in imitation of his 
adoptive father he would retain all the power in his own 



End of the Republic 199 

hands, or restore it to the senate after the example of 
Sulla; but finally he chose a middle course. The republi- 
can period came to an end in 27 B.C., when he lay down 
the office of triumvir, and received from the senate the 
title Augustus. Hitherto this epithet had been reserved 
for the gods and their belongings. In conferring it on The end of 
Octavianus the senate intended to grant no power, but to Y?'" ^^' 
mark him as the one whom all should revere. Though we 
shall henceforth speak of Octavianus as Augustus, we are 
to bear in mind that all the emperors after him held 
this title as their chief distinction. It is nearly equivalent 
to His Sacred Majesty. 

The battle of Actium was one of the most important in Results of 

ancient history : it saved European civilization from un- *^® ^^^^^^ 
■' ^ of Actium. 

due Oriental influence; it ended the long anarchy which 
followed the murder of Caesar; and it placed the destiny of 
the empire in the hands of an able statesman. Sulla and 
Pompey had wielded absolute power, but they lacked the 
wisdom necessary for creating new and useful institutions. 
In failing to make the republic a part of his system, even 
the great Julius Caesar fell short of the needs of his time. p. 218. 
It remained for Augustus to meet the demands of all classes 
in an organization which, for three centuries, was to pro- 
tect the civilized world from anarchy and from barbarian 
invasion. 

During the decline of the republic the spirit of the The culture 
ruling class rapidly yielded to Hellenic influence. All the ° ^ ^^"° " 
sons of the nobles had Greek tutors, and when they grew Pp. 260, 336. 
older many of them visited Greece to study in the famous 
schools of Athens and Rhodes. Naturally, therefore, Hel- 
lenic ideas controlled the intellectual life of Rome. 
Throughout these years the political pulse beat high, and 
those who were interested in public affairs worked off their 



200 



Militarism against the Repicblic 



History. 

P. 146. 



P. 191. 



Biography. 



Oratory. 



P. 1 = 



excitement in reading and writing. The age produced 
much literature, especially history and oratory. After the 
time of Cato the Censor, some of the annalists, departing 
from his plan of narrating facts in simple language for the 
instruction of the serious reader, began to wTite for the 
entertainment of the public. To give their narrative a 
brilliant coloring they filled it with lively stories and 
startling incidents, however exaggerated and false. About 
the time of the Social War, Valerius Antias, the most in- 
famous of these romancers, composed his Annals of Rome 
in seventy-five books. A striking contrast with the diffuse 
rhetoric of Antias is the plain narrative of Caesar, whose 
Commentaries o?i the Gallic War and on the Civil War 
have already been noticed. Toward the end of the period 
Sallust \\TOte a monograph On the Conspiracy of Catiline 
and another On the Jugurthirie War. Along with his nar- 
rative of events, he tried to analyze impartially the char- 
acter of society and the motives of conduct. These works 
are valuable sources for the subjects treated. Most of 
his History, however, which describes the events follow- 
ing Sulla's death, has been lost. These were the chief 
historians of the age. Though each noble family recorded 
the deeds of illustrious ancestors, there was no national 
interest in biography till the closing years of the republic, 
when the great men of Rome began to attract all eyes. At 
this time Cornelius Nepos wrote a work On Eminent Men, 
in which he treated famous Romans and foreigners in 
parallel biographies. Most of his lives which we still 
possess are of Greek generals; they prove him to have 
been an inferior and untrustsvorthy author. 

Perhaps the ablest of all Roman orators was Gains 
Gracchus. The earnestness of his feelings and his clear 
statement of facts, without rhetorical ornament, carried 



L iteratu re 201 — 

conviction. Unfortunately mere fragments of his speeches 
have come down to us. Though inferior to Gracchus and 
Caesar in that greatness of character which is essential to 
the noblest oratory, Cicero was perfect master of all the 
resources of rhetoric and remains the most celebrated 
writer of Latin prose. If in reading his speeches we guard 
against his misrepresentation of truth, we shall find them 
valuable for the study of the times. More trustworthy are 
his Letters to friends, in which he speaks candidly of 
passing events. 

As the temperament of the Romans was realistic and poetry 
practical, they met with little success in imaginative litera- 
ture. Lucretius, a poet of this age, composed in verse a 
work On the Nature of the World, in which he tried by 
means of science to dispel from the mind all fear of death 
and of the gods, — to free men from superstition. Not- 
withstanding the scientific details in which the poem 
abounds, it is a work of remarkable genius. Catullus, a 
contemporary poet, wrote beautiful lyrics and elegies on 
subjects of love and life, and some bitter lampoons. On 
the whole, the poetry of this period is less celebrated than 
that of the following. 

Writers were eager to bring their works before the pub- Books and 
lie. Publishers employed slaves in making copies, which ^ "^^"^s. 
were then placed on sale. Learned men had private libra- 
ries, and Caesar planned to make as large a collection as 
possible of works in the Greek and Latin languages for 
public use, and assigned the task of collecting and arrang- 
ing them to Marcus Terentius Varro. This man, the 
most learned of the Romans, was author of seventy-four 
works, which included all departments of knowledge affect- 
ing his own country and race, — history, geography, agri- 
culture, law, literature, philology, philosophy, and religion, 



202 



Militarism against the Republic 



End of the 
republic. 



Mommsen, 
Rotne, bk. V, 
ch. xii. 



— a Roman encyclopaedia. Although the Italians had 
been slow in developing a taste for culture, and though 
the quality of their literary work always fell short of the 
best Greek models, they surpassed their masters in the 
amount produced. Unfortunately nearly the whole body 
of Greek and Roman literature has disappeared, leaving us 
a multitude of fragments and a few choice works intact. 

While we appreciate the progress of literature and of 
intelligence, we must not lose sight of the fact that in 
nearly every other respect Rome was rapidly decaying. At 
this point in his history, Mommsen aptly remarks : 
"There was in the world as Caesar found it much of the 
noble heritage of past centuries and an infinite abundance 
of pomp and glory, but little spirit, still less taste, and 
least of all true delight in life. It was indeed," he con- 
tinues, "an old world; and even the richly gifted patriot- 
ism of Caesar could not make it young again." All that 
statesmen could now do was to determine what elements of 
life and virtue still lingered in the Roman world, and to 
organize these forces, with which to stay for a few more 
centuries the wreck of ancient civilization. 



Sources 

Reading. Sallust, Catiline ; History (fragments) ; Caesar, Commentaries on 

the Gallic War ; on the Civil War ; (Hirtius ?), on the Alexandrian 
War; on the African War (though the last two works have come 
down to us under the name of Caesar, they were probably written by 
Hirtius, one of Caesar's officers); Cicero, Letters ; Orations; and other 
works; Livy (epitome) xc-cxxxiv ; Appian, Foreign Wars, xii. 64-121 ; 
Civil Wars, i, 107-121 ; ii-v ; Plutarch, Ccesar ; Cicero; Crassus ; 
Cato (the Younger) ; Lucullus ; Antony ; Pompey ; Sertorius ; Brutus ; 
Suetonius, Julius Ccesar; Augustus', Dio Cassius, xxxvi-li (German 
translation from the Greek) ; Velleius Paterculus ii. 29-89 ; Florus 
iii. 19-iv. 12; Lucan, Pharsalia (p. 240) ; Eutropius vi, vii. I-7. Cf. 
Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. viii. 



Bibliography 203 

Modern Works 

Pelham, Outlines of Ro77ian History, bk. IV. chs. ii, iii; bk. V. 
chs. i, ii ; How and Leigh, History of Rome, chs. xlv-lii ; Shuckburgh, 
History of Rome, ch'&.xli-y.Wi ; Taylor, Constitutional and Political His- 
tory of R 0771 e, chs. xii-xvi ; Merivale, Ro77ia7i Triu77ivirates (epochs) ; 
Allcroft, Maki7ig of the Mo7iarchy (tutorial) ; Mommsen, History of 
Rome, bk. V ; Duruy, History of Ro77ie, III. chs. xlviii-lxi ; Merivale, 
History of the Ro77ia7is U7ider the E7npire (I-III), chs. i-xxviii ; Long, 
Decline of the Ro77ian Republic, II. chs. xxx-xxxiii ; III-V (entire) ; 
Seeley, Ro77ia7i l7fiperialism, lect. i ; Beesly, Catiline, Clodius, a7id 
Tiberius; Hall, llie Ro77ians 07i the Riviera and the Rhone, chs. 
xi-xv ; D'Hugues, Urie Provi7tce Ro?naine sous La Republique, Etude 
stir le Proco7isulat de Ciceron (Paris, 1876) ; Mahaffy, Greek World 
under Ronia7t Szvay, ch. iv ; Church, Roma7i Life i7i the Days of 
Cicero ; Trollope, Cicero ; Strachan-Davidson, Cicero (heroes); Bois- 
sier, Cicero a7id his Frie7ids ; Forsylh, Cicero; Dubois-Guchan, j'?^;;/,? 
et Cicero7i; Napoleon HI, Julius Ccesar, 2 vols. ; Delorme, Cesar et 
ses Co7ite77iporai7is ; P'roude, Ccssar ; 'E'O'wXQr, Julius Ccesar (heroes) ; 
Dodge, CcEsar (great captains) ; Holmes, Ccrsai'''s Co7iqtiest of Gaul ; 
Davis, A Friend of Ccisar (a novel) ; Mackail, Lati7i Literature, 
bk. I. chs. iv-vii ; Cruttwell, History of Ro77iaii Literature, bk. II. 
pt. i ; Simcox, Latin Literature, I, pt. ii. 




The Pantheon 

(Campus Martius.) 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FOUND-ING OF THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT- 

DYARCHY 

(27 B.C.-4I A.D.) 

The Julian Emperors 

" Safe the herds range field and fen, 

Full-headed stand the shocks of grain, 
Our sailors sweep the peaceful main. 
And man can trust his fellow-men. 



THE 



"The Parthian, under Coesar's reign. 
Or icy Scythian, who can dread, 
Or all the tribes barbarian bred 
By Germany, or ruthless Spain ? 
204 



Dyarchy 205 

" Now each man, basking on his slopes, 
Weds to liis widowed trees the vine. 
Then, as he gaily quaffs his wine, 
Salutes thee God of all his hopes." 

Horace, Odes, iv. 15 (to Augustus). 

The need of a strong, humane power for the protection Value of the 

of the frontier and for developing the resources and the ^"^p^"^ sov- 

^ ° emment. 

happiness of the provinces had called in the new imperial 
government to take the place of the worn-out republic. 
Henceforth it will be our chief interest to learn by what 
means and how far the successive emperors performed this 
double task \ we shall concern ourselves less with the cor- 
rupt nobility and with the intrigues of the imperial family 
than with the progress of the civilized world. 

A chief aim of Augustus was to protect the frontiers, to main- The frontiers, 
tain quiet by diplomacy, and to wage war solely for the sake 
of peace. In the East, Rome had a great rival in the Par- 
thian empire. This power, which Augustus found haughty 
from its victory over Crassus, he humbled without war. With p. 187. 
great difficulty he secured the friendship of Armenia, a bor- 
der country whose kings wavered between Rome and Par- 
thia. Although there remained several small kingdoms in 
the East, as Pontus and Cappadocia, wholly dependent upon 
Rome, Augustus preferred to convert such states into prov- 
inces. He placed Judea under an imperial agent termed 
procurator ; after the death of Cleopatra, he set a prefect 
over Egypt. He kept four legions in Syria, one in the 
valley of the Nile as a protection from Parthia and Ethiopia, 
and a few troops west of Egypt to ward off the sparse Afri- 
can tribes. In place of war he encouraged trade with for- 
eign countries, even with distant India. 

To defend the northern frontier from the barbarians of The northern 
central Europe was the most difficult problem with which ^'■°'^*^^^- 



2o6 Dyarchy 

the emperor had to deal. This task fell to his stepsons, 
Sons of his Tiberius and Drusus. As the Danube was to form a part 
wife Livia by q£ ^^^ boundary, four provinces, Rsetia, Noricum, Pannonia, 

a former mar- 

riao-e. ^^^^ Moesia, lining the southern bank, protected it with strong 

p. 218. 




Augustus 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 

forts and garrisons. In like manner two frontier provinces, 
Upper and Lower Germany, defended the Rhine with a 
chain of fifty forts. While Tiberius was organizing the 
defence along the Danube and was putting down revolts, 
Drusus, his younger brother, attempted to subdue Germany 



TJie Frontiers 207 

from the Rhine to the Elbe. This conquest, had it been 
achieved, would have greatly shortened the frontier and 
would thus have made it far easier to defend. By redeem- 
ing so large a part of Germany from barbarism, it would have 
altered the current of history. For three years he was suc- 
cessful in defeating barbarians and in gaining control of their 12-9 b.c. 
country by means of forts, when he fatally injured himself by 
a fall from his horse. Hastening to his brother's side, Tibe- 
rius was with him in his last moments ; and with a devotion 
which was rare in that age, he brought the body from the 
depths of the German forest to Rome, walking all the way 
in front of the bier. It was a great loss to the imperial Tacitus, An- 
family ; for Drusus was an able man and popular with the ^ ' ^' 23- 
army. 

Tiberius, who succeeded to the command, was likewise Tiberius, 
the idol of the troops ; for he watched over them with the 
care of a father, and shared all their hardships. For a short 
time he carried on the work of completing and of organiz- 
ing the conquest ; then leaving it to other hands, he retired 
to private life. When he returned after ten years' absence 
''at the very sight of him tears of joy sprang from the eyes 
of the soldiers ; they saluted him with strange enthusiasm, 
and eagerly wished to touch his hand. . . . One after Veiieius 
another exclaimed, * General, I was with you in Armenia.' P^^ercuius, 

ii. 104. 

' And I in Rgetia.' ' You rewarded me in Vindelicia.' ' And 
me in Pannonia.' ' And me in Germany ! ' " Though the 
work of fastening the yoke upon the brave, liberty-loving p. 295. 
Germans was difficult, it seemed complete when Tiberius 
returned to Pannonia to put down a dangerous rebellion 
there. Meantime Augustus made Varus, a distant kinsman, 
governor of the new province. This man had too much of 
the old republican spirit to make a good ruler ; and Augus- 
tus was at fault in giving him the post without imposing 



208 



Dyarchy 



Battle of the 

Teutoberg 
Forest, 
9 A.D. 

Suetonius, 
Augustus, 
23 ; Tacitus, 
Annals, 
i. 61, 62. 



Velleius 
Paterculus, 
ii. 120. 



The prov- 
inces. 



Strict instructions. Varus considered his subjects mere 
slaves, whom he tried to govern by the principles he had 
learned in the Orient. They resisted ; and under the lead 
of Arminius, a chieftain's son who had received his educa- 
tion at Rome, they plotted against their tyrannic governor. 
As he was leading his three legions through the Teutoberg 
Forest on his way to winter quarters, they surrounded him 
and cut his army to pieces. Varus killed himself ; the bar- 
barians hung their prisoners to trees and tortured them to 
death. Though Augustus appeared to bear the news with 
a brave heart, his spirit was broken by the misfortune he 
could not repair. From time to time he would say, " Varus, 
Varus, give me back my legions." As he saw his helpers 
and his kinsmen dying one after another, and felt himself 
worn out by sickness and toil, the emperor at length real- 
ized how gigantic was the task of defending the empire and 
how lonely was to be the walk of the man who carried in 
his bosom the burden of the world's cares. However, as 
the empire was again endangered by the Germans, Augus- 
tus compelled the Italians to enlist, sorely against their will. 
Tiberius, accompanied by Germanicus, son of his brother 
Drusus, led a new army across the Rhine. " He penetrated 
into the interior, opened roads, wasted the lands, burned 
houses, overthrew all opposition, and then with abundance 
of glory, and mthout losing a man of those who had crossed 
the river, he returned to winter quarters." This bloodless 
campaign quieted the natives and inspired the raw army 
with courage. As Augustus had now abandoned the idea 
of advancing the frontier beyond the Rhine, Tiberius pru- 
dently accepted the decision. 

In reviewing the border provinces, we have had occa- 
sion to notice only the emperor and his helpers; for all 
those districts which danger threatened were under his 



The Provinces 209 

direct care. He administered their judicial and military 
affairs by means of lieutenants, — iegati, — who during p. 187. 
office were called propraetors, while his fiscal agents — 
procuraio7'es — attended to finance. The older and more 
peaceful provinces still belonged to the senate, which 
appointed governors with the title of proconsul. While 
the senatorial rulers changed annually, as under the repub- 
lic, a propraetor continued in office as long as the emperor 
willed, generally for many years; thus he could learn the 
needs of the provincials and interest himself in their hap- 
piness. Augustus followed the example of Julius Caesar in P. 193. 
insisting on a just and vigorous government; though the 
imperial provinces fared better than the senatorial, he 
possessed proconsular authority over all the governors alike, 
by means of which he could check abuse in any part of the 
empire. Accordingly the rule of the emperors, imitating 
that of Julius Caesar, was a blessing to the subjects; the 
thousand-headed monster of the republic with its horrid 
appetite for plunder had at last given place to the prudent 
master, whose chief care was to increase the value of his 
"estates." Although Augustus withheld the Roman citi- P. 193. 
zenship and still claimed the land as state property, the 
provincials enjoyed a large degree of municipal freedom. 
He encouraged trade and knit the empire together by 
continuing the system of well-paved roads which radiated 
from the golden milestone of the Forum to the remotest 
parts of the Roman world. Thus the imperial government 
brought the provinces protection from invasion, internal 
quiet, a just administration, thrift, happiness, and the 
healthful atmosphere of local freedom. However far from 
ideal, the system was as good as the circumstances would 
permit. 

The division of the empire between the senate and 
p 



210 



Dyarchy 



Thedyarchy. Augustus followed a precedent set in the time of Pompey. 

P. 179- The senate was still to rule Italy and the quiet provinces; 

the emperor undertook the more difficult task of maintain- 
ing and commanding the army, and of protecting the un- 
settled and exposed parts of the empire. The republic 
continued in free Italy; the monarchy was established for 
the states already subject. This dyarchy, or double rule 
of the senate and the emperor, accorded better with public 

P. 199. feeling, and hence was more substantial, than the absolu- 

tism of Julius Caesar. By professing to derive his authority 
from the senate and the people, Augustus disguised his own 
position in republican forms. -^ Whereas the moderns call 
him emperor, from his title of imperator, the Romans 
styled him simply prince, the "foremost" of the citizens. 
The outward sign of his position was the purple robe which 
he wore at public festivals. 

Like his adoptive father, Augustus held at once various 
kinds of official authority, — chiefly the proconsular for the 
control of the provinces, and the tribunitian for the gov- 
erment of Rome. As the tribunes and the proconsuls, by 
combined action, had overthrown the republic, their offi- 
cial powers naturally formed the basis of the new imperial 

p. 73. government. Not only did the tribunitian authority make 

the emperor's person sacred, but it marked him as the 
friend of the people. Whatever his personal inclinations 
may have been, the heir of Julius Caesar was a son of de- 



Imperial 
offices and 
powers. 
P. 191. 



P. \l 



1 " In my sixth and seventh consulships, when I had put an end to 
the civil wars and had obtained complete control of affairs by universal 
consent, I transferred the commonwealth from my own dominion to 
the authority of the senate and the people of Rome. In return for 
this favor I received by decree of the senate the title Augustus. . . . 
After that time I excelled all others in dignity, but of power I held no 
more than those also held who were my colleagues in any magistracy." 
Augustus, Deeds {^Monumeiituin A^icyranuni), xxxiv. 



Public Improvements 2 1 1 

mocracy, who harmonized better with the plain citizens 
than with the party which had murdered his father. 

Although Augustus sometimes held the consulship and The old 
occasionally undertook the duties of censor, he generally ^^^^^^^^^^ 
left the republican of^ces to others, whom the people elected 
and the senate supervised in the traditional way. The 
consuls, whose term was now generally less than a year, P. 247. 
the praetors, the plebeian tribunes, and the other republi- 
can officers performed their routine duties with little 
change ; but all the old institutions were under the shadow 
of Augustus. His successors gradually encroached upon 
the power of the senate till, in the time of Diocletian, P. aySff. 
the prince became an absolute monarch. 

Not only in government, but in public economy, in Public im- 
architecture, in religion, and in morals, Augustus was less P''°^^°^®° ^• 
a creator than a restorer of the past. On this characteristic 
he prided himself. " I have established colonies of soldiers Colonies. 
in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, the two Spains, Achaia, Asia, Augustus, 
Syria, Gallia Narbonensis, and Pisidia. Italy also has ^^^'^■^. -^^viii. 
twenty-eight colonies planted under my auspices, which 
within my lifetime have become very famous and popu- 
lous." His aim was not only to furnish his retired veter- 
ans with farms but also to resettle depopulated lands, so 
as to improve the economic condition of the country. 

"The Capitol ^ and the Pompeian theatre I have repaired Public 
at enormous expense. . . . Aqueducts which were crum- ^^ ^°^^' 
bling in many places, by reason of age, I have restored Augustus, 
. . . and have finished the Julian Forum and the basilica '^^ ^' ^^' 
which was between the temple of Castor and the temple of 
Saturn, works begun and almost completed by my father; 
and when that same basilica was consumed by fire, I began 
its reconstruction on an enlarged scale, inscribing it with 
^ The Capitoline temple of Jupiter. 



212 



Dyarchy 



p. 148. 



the names of my sons. If I do not live to complete it, 
I have given orders that it be finished by my heirs. In 
accordance with a decree of the senate, while consul for 
the sixth time, I restored eighty-two temples of the gods, 
passing over none which was at that time in need of repair. 
In my seventh consulship I [re-] built the Flaminian Way 




The Temple of Mars the Avenger 

(In the Augustan Forum.) 



Mars the 
Avenger. 
Augustus, 
Deeds, xxi. 



to Ariminum, and all the bridges except the Mulvian and 
the Minucian." 

" Upon private ground I have built with the spoils of 
war the temple of Mars the Avenger, and the Augustan 
Forum." The Mars of this temple was not to be the god 
of conquest; his function, rather, was to punish foreign 
powers which disturbed the peace of the empire. The 
Pantheon, which means the *' all-divine, " is a famous 



Temples 



213 



temple originally built by Agrippa, the" emperor's ablest The Pan- 
minister.^ In it men worshipped Mars and Venus, ^^®'^^" 
the chief gods of the Julian family. It still stands well 
preserved in what was once the Campus Martins, and is 
now used as a Christian church. The temple is circular 
and is covered by a most magnificent dome. The spec- 




1. Roman Forum 

2. Temple ofMars the Avenger; 

3. Temple of Venus and Rome, 
lilit-a of Coiistantiue. :-^ 

5. Basilk-a Julia. W^^^ 

6. Arch of Constantine. '-'/i 

7. Arch of Titus. 

8. Temple of the Capitoline.)u| 
i). Trojan's Coll 

For details of the Forum '~~'" 
and vicinity, see plan of 
the Sacred Way, page. 234 



ENGRAVED BY BORMAY 4 CO., N.Y, 



Imperial Rdme 



tator who stands within this rotunda cannot fail to see in 

it an emblem of the vast and durable power of Rome. 

Other wealthy men besides Agrippa followed the example 

of their prince in erecting splendid public buildings as 

well as residences, till Augustus could boast that whereas "A city of 

he had found Rome of brick, he left it of marble. This, 



marble." 



1 Recent scholarship assigns the building in its present form to 
Hadrian; Lanciani, Ruins and Excavaiiotis of Ancient Rome^ p. 47off. 



214 



Dyarchy 



p. 8. 



Religion. 



Pp. 29, 191. 



Horace, 
Carmeii 
Sceculare. 



From an 
inscription 
found in 
Asia Minor. 



however, was merely the appearance of the new Augustan 
city; for the Romans continued to build most of their 
temples and other houses of brick, which they henceforth 
covered with marble slabs. Though they imported most of 
their marbles, they had plenty of coarser stones for all 
substantial works, and an excellent cement of volcanic 
ashes mixed with lime, which helped much to make Rome 
the eternal city. Nearly all the temples and other public 
buildings were on low groimd, as about the Forum and in 
the Campus Martius. Augustus built his residence on the 
Palatine, and the example was followed by his successors, 
who themselves enjoyed larger and better-situated dwell- 
ings than they had given the gods. 

Notwithstanding the many temples, Roman society had 
forgotten the gods and had lost its morals. Augustus restored 
the ancient ceremonies of worship which had fallen into 
disuse; and by precept and law, he attempted to lead the 
people back to the old religion and to the pure, simple 
life of the ancestors who had made the city great. He 
became chief pontiff; and while he probably had little 
faith himself, he felt that religion was good for the masses. 
His work was not wholly fruitless. A poet of the age 
writes, "Now Faith and Peace and Honor and Antique 
Modesty and neglected A'irtue dare return, and Plenty 
appears in view, rich with her overflowing horn," — the 
expression of a wish almost realized. As the " son of the 
deified Julius," Augustus came near to divinity even in 
Rome, while the provincials built 'temples in which they 
sacrificed to him as to a god. In fact the worship of the 
emperor was to be the most vital force in the religion of 
the Roman world till the adoption of Christianity. '' He 
is the paternal Zeus and the saviour of the whole race of 
man, who fulfils all prayers, even more than we ask. For 



Literature 215 

land and sea enjoy peace; cities flourish; everywhere are 
harmony and prosperity and happiness." Three times in Augustus, 
his reign he closed the doors of the temple of Janus as a ^^ ^' ^"'' 
sign of peace throughout the empire. In one of these P- 28. 
intervals of quiet there was born in Judea the Christ, who 
was to give the world new spiritual life and an ideal of 
perfect manhood. 

Through literature as well as through religion, Augustus Literature, 
summoned his people to lay aside the bitterness of party strife 
for the blessings of his peace. Under the patronage of the 
emperor, or of Maecenas, his minister, the great writers 
aimed to purify and to ennoble the present by bringing it 
the life of the good and great past. Livy, the most emi- Livy. 
nent author of prose in this age, wrote a history of Rome 
in a hundred and forty-two books. -^ Though in his con- 
ception of the aim and methods of history he was far infe- 
rior to Polybius, whom he had read, he loved what he P. 147. 
supposed to be the truth and the right. His sympathies 
were intensely republican; with his fine rhetorical train- 
ing he would have been, like Cicero, a great aristocratic 
orator, had he lived a few years earlier. Yet he consented 
to work for Augustus. His love of law and order, his 
hatred of violence and vulgarity, served the interests of his 
patron, while the vast compass and the stately style of 
his history, like the Pantheon of Agrippa and the splendid 
residences on the Palatine, helped make the imperial gov- 
ernment magnificent. 

Vergil was the poetic counterpart of Livy. He, too, vergii. 
had an elevated style; and in his /Eneid, a story of the 
wanderings of ^neas, he glorified the beginnings of Rome P. 17, 

^ Books i-x and xxi-xlv, with mere summaries of the remaining 
books, have alone come down to us, and are our chief source for the 
earlier periods. 



2l6 



Dyarchy 



Duruy, 
Rome, iv. 
P- 313. 



Horace. 



and, at the same time, the imperial family, which claimed 
descent from the hero of his poem." In his Georgics he 
called attention to the pleasures and the virtues of country 
life and of husbandry. " If the Geo7'gics are the praise of 
labor sanctified by religion and recompensed by the gods, 
the u^neid is the eulogy of the monarchy consecrated by 
the divine will and protection. The two poems, therefore, 
were a plea in favor of that threefold restoration of the 
manners, the religion, and the government of early days 
which Augustus was striving to accomplish." 

Horace, author of Odes and Satii-es and of Epistles in 
verse, was the poet of contentment and of common sense, 
who bade his friends — 



Odes, iii. 8. 



The succes- 
sion. 

P. 210. 

Vergil, 
Aineid, vi. 
860-886. 
23 B.C. 
Tacitus, An- 
nals, iii. 56. 



" Snatch gaily the joys which the moment shall bring, 
And away every care and perplexity fling." 

Leave the future to the gods, he taught. A comfortable 
villa, some shady nook in summer, and in winter a roaring 
fireplace, good wine, pleasant friends, and a mind free 
from care make an ideal life. After the stormy end of 
the republic, the world needed such a lesson; and though 
he remained independent in spirit, Horace quietly served 
his prince. 

Among the cares of government, none weighed more 
heavily upon Augustus than his concern for the empire 
after his death. As he preferred hereditary succession of 
power in" his own family, though he dared not openly pro- 
fess it, he first looked to his nephew Marcellus as heir. 
When this loved youth died, he made Agrippa his col- 
league in the tribunitian power, ^ and gave him his own 
daughter Julia in marriage. No one now doubted that 

1 Some time previously Agrippa had received a share of the pro- 
consular power; cf. p. 210. 



The Succession 217 

I Agrippa would be the next emperor. When he, too, died, 
worn out by ceaseless labor for the imperial family, his 
sons, Lucius and Gaius, grandsons of Augustus, though 
mere boys, were treated as the heirs. In youth they held 
high republican offices and received military commands. 
Both were corrupted, however, by flattery and vice. Lucius 
died, apparently from the effect of bad habits, and Gaius 
from a wound received while conducting a campaign in 




JuLTA, Daughter of Augustus, and her Sons, Gaius and Lucius 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 

the East. Finally Tiberius, who had grown to middle age 
in public service, became the colleague and the heir of the 
emperor. 

" In the vigor of life, Augustus had been able to main- Death of 
tain his own position, that of his house, and the general j^^^^J,^^' 
quiet." But a reaction set in against his system in- his old Tacitus, 
age, when he was too feeble for the varied and difficult ^''^^^^■^. i- 4- 
tasks of his office. He was disappointed, too, by the 
failure of many of his plans, by the disaster in Germany, P. 208. 
by the death of one heir after another, and not least by the 



2l8 



Dyarchy 



p. 221. 



Character of 
Augustus. 

P. 196. 



Pliny, Natu- 
ral History, 
xvi. 3. 

Tiberius 
emperor, 

14-37 A.D. 

Suetonius, 
Tiberius, 68. 



immorality of his daughter and granddaughter, both named 
Julia. The literary men were growing weary of his rule 
and some of the nobles were plotting. Augustus was still 
firm; he banished the two Julias and Ovid, once a favorite 
court poet, and he revived against conspirators an old law 
of treason, which was to become infamous under his suc- 
cessor. He died in 14 a. d., after forty-five years of rule. 
His wife Livia, who had been his strong support during 
life, secured to her son Tiberius the peaceful succession. 

Augustus was a cold, shrewd statesman without passions 
or ideals, who ruled by compromise and deception. The 
imperial system which he introduced had many defects : 
worst of all, he permitted the military power to overshadow 
everything else; and instead of creating vital institutions 
which should take the place of individual caprice and 
despotism in the government of the empire, he continued 
the lifeless republican offices and the senate, whose servile 
flattery to the emperor concealed the assassin's dagger. 
Thus the dyarchy itself prophesied strife. There was 
needed, too, a fixed principle of succession to prevent 
civil war, and an organic political life for the whole 
empire to assure its perpetuity. But with his limited ideas 
and in his trying position, Augustus did what he could; 
and for the blessings he brought the world, "the human 
race decrees him a civic crown." 

Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus, "was in person large 
and robust, taller than common, broad in shoulders and 
chest," with fair complexion and large eyes. At the time 
of his accession, he was fifty-six years of age. A scholar 
and a man of peace by the traditions of his family, he had 
toiled from youth upward in governing frontier provinces, 
in commanding armies, and in rapid journeys to exposed 
points of the empire, wherever duty called. He now 



Tiberius 



219 



nals, i. II ff. 



found the treasury exhausted by the expensive works of 
Augustus, a hungry populace to be fed, and a cringing 
senate, which, while shirking responsibility, still longed 
for the honor and the profit of government. Certainly he Tacitus, An- 
must have felt 
there was more of 
bitter than of sweet 
in the cup he was 
about to drink; 
and he may have 
been sincere in his 
request for an ex- 
cuse from further 
public service, or 
at most for a 
limited share in 
the government. 
However that may 
be, the senate 
voted him all the 
powers Augustus 
had held. 

Immediately ^^^Hp j ^^f/^H^P^^^H The mutiny, 
after his accession, 
the armies in Pan- 
nonia and on the 
Rhine mutinied. 
From the time 

Rome became a conquering state, the soldiers had received Tacitus, Ati- 
their share of booty and of the acquired lands. Now that "'^^^' '• ^^"-^9. 
Augustus had given the empire a policy of peace, there were 
no more wealthy cities to sack, no booty, and no vacant 
land but swamps and sterile mountain sides. The great sums 




Tiberius 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



220 



Dyarchy 



A peaceful 
reign. 



Tacitus, 
Amials, iv, 6. 



The senate 
and the popu- 
lace hate 
Tiberius. 



of money which the triumvirs had wrung from the miserable 
provincials, to use in bribing whole armies, could no longer 
be had. The troops now fought against poor barbarians 
or in time of peace built military roads and other public 
works. But the direct cause of their mutiny was the hope 
of gaining some reward for a promise of devotion to the 
new emperor. They demanded a shorter term of service, 
higher pay, and more bounty. Those on the Rhine offered 
to support their general, Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius, 
if he would attempt to make himself emperor. Fortunately 
the commanders proved loyal, and with difficulty sup- 
pressed the outbreak. This trouble pointed toward the 
time when the armies should make and unmake emperors. 

Germanicus then led his legions across the Rhine and 
avenged the defeat of Varus. But as Augustus in his will 
had advised his successors not to extend the boundaries 
of the empire, Tiberius would not permit his nephew to 
waste the resources of the government in attempting further 
conquests. No important war disturbed the remainder of 
his reign; he devoted himself, therefore, to administrative 
work, in which he showed remarkable ability. "He was 
careful not to distress the provinces by new burdens, and 
to see that in bearing the old they were safe from any 
rapacity of the governors." By rebuilding twelve cities of 
Asia Minor which had been destroyed by earthquakes, he 
taught the Romans that they had duties as well as privileges 
in their relations with the provinces. There is no wonder, 
then, that the subject nations respected him. 

The senate, however, would have preferred to see him 
using the public funds for pensioning noble spendthrifts, 
and the populace grumbled because he fed them poorly 
and provided no gladiatorial shows. It was in vain that 
he gave the senate a larger share in the government than 




a 






Delations 221 

it had enjoyed under Augustus, and especially increased 
its importance by doing away with the assemblies. The 
reaction in favor of republicanism grew so strong among 
the nobility that it drove the emperor to a rigorous enforce- 
ment of the law of treason. Having no public prosecutor, P. 218. 
Rome had always depended upon private informers, termed Delations. 
delators, for bringing accusations. Encouraged by Tiberius, 
these informers caused the death of several persons for 
treason, a few of whom may have been innocent. Not only 
the suspicious temper of the prince but also the moral 
degradation of society made the delations terrible. Greed, 
hatred, enjoyment of bloodshed, — in brief, all vicious and 
criminal passions were at their height under the early 
empire. No one felt safe; for each rightly judged his 
neighbor by himself; and the emperor could hardly restrain 
the senate from condemning men for the most trivial 
offences. This body was now the court for the punishment 
of misrule in the provinces as well as of other political 
crimes. 

The first half of his reign he passed in Rome, the re- capri. 
mainder in Capri, an island off the Bay of Naples. '' Its 
air in winter is soft, as it is screened by a mountain which 
protects it against cutting winds. In summer it catches Tacitus, .i//- 
the breeze, and the open sea around renders it most delight- '"^^^^' ^"^-^t- 
ful. It commanded, too, a prospect of the most lovely 
bay, till Vesuvius, bursting into flames, changed the face 
of the country." From this retreat he still watched over 
the government, while he left 'the direct management to 
Sejanus, prefect of the pretorian guard which Augustus had 
formed for the security of the prince. This man, too, con- 
spired against the emperor, and suffered death for his treason. 

Tiberius grew more and more hateful to the nobility Character of 
and to the Roman mob. Not that he was especially cruel 



222 



Dyarchy 



Caligula 
emperor, 
37-41 A.D. 
Suetonius, 
Caligula. 



or vicious; he seems rather to have been a stern, unsym- 
pathetic moralist, whose criticisms on the baseness of the 
nobles brought upon himself the groundless retort that he 
was far worse than they. He was unsocial, tactless, and eco- 
nomical, — qualities which would have made any emperor 
unpopular. Notwithstanding his faults, he was an able. 




The Palace of Caligula 

(On the Palatine.) 

conscientious ruler, and deserves to be counted with Julius 
and Augustus as one of the three founders of the empire. 

On the death of Tiberius, 37 a.d., the senate conferred 
the imperial powers upon 'his grandnephew Gains, son of 
Germanicus. The new prince is better known as Caligula, 
— Little Boot, — a nickname given him by his father's 
troops who were fond of him. He was a favorite, too, of 
the senate and people, who lovingly cherished the mem- 
ory of his deceased father. For a time after his accession 



Caligula 223 

he won popularity by squandering the treasury on public 
amusements. His health was poor and his mind unsound, 
so that excitement and dissipation soon made him insane. 
Thereafter his life was a series of extravagant and grotesque 
caprices. He took especial delight in inflicting pain; it 
seems that all the brutal and murderous instincts of the 
Romans were now concentrated in their mad ruler. He 
showed, too, an excessive craving to be a god; though 
other emperors were regularly deified after death, he 
demanded worship while he still lived, and even chal- 
lenged the statue of Jupiter to fight with him. Fortunately 
he did not live long enough to make his tyranny widely 
felt. He was killed by some officers of the pretorian P. 221. 
guards and, in the hope of a republic, the senate pro- 
claimed the assassins "restorers of liberty." 

Beginning with Julius Caesar, each emperor thus far had The Julian 
adopted his successor. Although with the death of Caligula 
the rule passed to another family, the name Caesar contin- 
ued as an imperial title, and has even descended to the 
monarchs of two great modern states. 

Sources 

Augustus, Deeds (^Monumentuni Ancyranum, an inscription of the Reading. 
highest value for the reign of Augustus) ; Tacitus, Annals, i-vi ; Vel- 
leius Paterculus ii. 88-131 ; Dio Cassius, li-lix (German translation) ; 
Suetonius, Augustus ; Tiberius; Caligula; Josephus, Antiquities of 
the Jews, xviii. 6-xix. 2; Florus iv. 12 ; Eutropius vii. 7-12 ; the works 
of Horace, Vergil, Ovid, and other poets, are valuable for the manners, 
morals, and intellectual life of the age. Cf. Botsford, Story of Rome, 
ch. ix. 

Modern "Works 

Duruy, History of Rome (HI, IV), chs. Ixii-lxxiv ; Merivale, His- 
tory of the RoDUDis under the Empire (III-V), chs. xxix-xlviii ; Bury, 
Students Roman Empire, chs. i-\iv ; Taylor, Constitutional a)id 



224 DyarcJiy 

Political Histo7'y of Ro77ie, chs. xvii-xix ; Capes, Early Empire 
(epochs), chs. i-iii, xii-xix ; Allcroft and Haydon, Early Principate 
(tutorial) ; Arnold, Roman Provincial Administration, oh. iii ; Momm- 
sen, Provinces of the Roman Empire (consult Index) ; Beesly, Catiline, 
Clodius, and Tiberius ; Rydberg, Roman Days, pp. 1-47 ('Emperors 
in Marble ') ; Inge, Society under the Ccesars ; Mackail, Latin Litera- 
ture, bk. II ; Cruttwell, History of Roman Literature, bk. II. pt. ii ; 
Simcox, Latin LAterature, I. pt. iii ; Tyrrell, Latin Poetry, lects. v, vi ; 
Sellar, Roman Poets of the Augusta?t Age, 2 Vols. 




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Claudius 

(Capitoline Museum, Rome.) 

CHAPTER X 

FROM DYARCHY TO MONARCHY 

(41-96 A.D.) 

The Claudian and the Flavian Emperors 

" My ancestors, the most ancient of whom was made at once a citi- 
zen and a noble of Rome, encouraged me to govern by the same policy 
of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit, wherever found." 

— Claudius, quoted by Tacitus, Aiinah, xi. 24, 

The senate would have had the imperial government end Claudius 

with the Julian line ; but while it deliberated on the crisis, ^"^p^''°^' 

41-54 '^^•i^- 
the pretorians made a new prince. These guards, whose 

existence depended upon the continuance of the present Pp. 221, 223. 
Q 225 



226 



From DyarcJiy to Monarchy 



Suetonius, 
Claudius ; 
Tacitus, 
Annals, xi. i- 
xii. 67. 



He favors the 
provinces. 

Pp. 193, 209. 

Tacitus, 
Atinals, xi. 

23-25- 

P. 36. 

Cf. Duruy, 
Rome, iv. 
P- 536. 

Dio Cassius, 
Ix. II. 



Suetonius, 
Claudius, 17. 

Pp. 186, 238. 



Humane leg- 
islation. 



P. 343. 



form of government, were now the conservative power in 
the capital ; by opposing a return to the republic, they 
saved the empire from anarchy. Their nominee was Clau- 
dius, uncle of the late prince. Grotesque in manners and 
lacking dignity and mental balance, he was generally con- 
sidered a learned fool. We are surprised therefore to 
find him making his reign the beginning of a new era in 
imperial history. 

Whereas Augustus had aimed to keep the provinces infe- 
rior to Italy, Claudius, by his readiness in granting citi- 
zenship to the subjects, restored Julius Caesar's pohcy of 
equahzing the rights of the empire. His own birth in the 
provincial city of Lyons,^ together with his scholarship, broad- 
ened his political vision as well as his sympathy, so that he 
rediscovered, in liberality, the secret of Roman greatness. 
We see another proof of breadth of view in his words to the 
Jews, whose religious freedom Caligula had hampered, 
^^ It is right that men should hve in the religion of their 
country." In appointing governors of provinces, he used 
to say, " Do not thank me, for I do you no favor, but call 
you to share with me the burdens of government ; and I 
shall thank you if you fulfil your duty well." For the first 
time the Romans heard that office was not merely an honor, 
but a trust to be faithfully discharged. Mingled with this 
humane wisdom was firmness in punishing offenders, in put- 
ting down revolts, and in protecting frontiers. One of his 
generals conquered southern Britain and made of it a Roman 
province. 

His home policy was marked by humane legislation in 

favor of slaves. As manv, to save themselves trouble and 

expense, were accustomed to expose their sick slaves on the 

island of ^sculapius, the doctor god, Claudius enacted that 

1 Ancient Lugdunum. 



Clatiditis 227 

all who were treated thus should be free, and that any one Suetonius, 

who killed a sick or aged slave should be liable to the pen- '^^^ ius,'2S' 

alty for murder. Another care was to prevent famine at 

Rome by keeping the city well supplied with grain. With 

this end in view, he insured importers against loss by storms 

at sea ; " he granted great privileges to those who built ships 

for that traffic ; " and he dug a new harbor at Ostia. He also U. 19 f 

built two magnificent aqueducts, begun by his predecessor, 

one of which, named after himself, the Claudia, was noted 

for the purity of the water. Later emperors continued to 

build aqueducts, till all of them together poured into Rome 

more fresh water each day than the Tiber now empties into 

the sea. 

The relation of Claudius with the senate we may charac- Claudius en- 
, ^- . , T , . croaches on 

terize as armed peace. JNotwithstandmg many plots agamst the senate. 

his life, he would have no informers or law of treason, but 

preferred to surround himself with soldiers, who even waited Suetonius, 

on his table and accompanied him into the senate-house. "^ "'^. 13. 

^ . . 16.28,35. 

Though he respected the senate, he did not trust it ; and he 

had himself made censor to weed out the most disloyal mem- 
bers. It was chiefly through the censorship that succeeding 
emperors encroached upon the senate till they usurped all Pp. 211, 238. 
its powers. His distrust of the nobles and knights led him, 
further, to employ his own freedmen as helpers and minis- 
ters. They were probably as able and as honest as the sen- 
ators, — which is no high praise, — and they were certainly 
more faithful to the prince. His employment of them, how- 
ever, was another step in the direction of monarchy. 

The worst feature of the reign of Claudius was the evil Nero emperor, 
influence of his wives, the last of whom was Agrippina, his 54-68 a.d. 
niece. When he died, 54 a.d., people suspected that she ^y^^.^ . -p.^'^,;, 
had poisoned him. However that may be, she secured the tus, Annals, 
imperial powers to Nero, her son by a former marriage. As ■^''' "■''^'■3^- 



228 



From DyarcJiy to MoiiarcJiy 



the new emperor was only seventeen years of age and showed 
more taste for dancing and music than for official work, the 
government for the first ten years of his reign was" in the 
hands of Seneca, his tutor, and Burrus, pretorian prefect. 
Both were able men and, on the whole, well meaning. 




Agrippina — Mother of Nero 

(National Museum, Naples.) 



Seneca. 

Duruy, 
Rome, iv. 

p. 572 ff. 



Seneca was a rhetorician and a philosopher of the Stoic 
school, which taught that virtue alone is sufficient for 
happiness, that a man should rise above all passions and 
follow the higher motives of reason. JNIan, it asserted, is 



. The PT-ovinces 229 

lord of his own life and may end it when he thinks fit. 
This severe, practical philosophy suited well the character 
of the Romans. From the later republic to the adoption 
of Christianity, many found in it a guide to self-discipline. 
But though Seneca studied more deeply than any Roman 
before him, though he saw clearly the beauty of truth, of 
kindness, of all the virtues, he lacked the moral force nec- 
essary for living up to his convictions. While preaching 
poverty, he amassed a colossal fortune by dishonest means; 
and so far from checking the vices of the young prince, 
he even aided him in crime. 

As Seneca was born in Spain, he had no reason for The prov- 
favoring Rome and Italy more than the provinces. To be ^^^^^• 
sure he and Burrus plundered some of them, but they 
would permit no others to do so. Accordingly the empire 
prospered under their administration. From the begin- 
ning of the imperial period, too, the subjects had been 
gaining great influence over the appointment and the con- 
duct of their rulers. The complaints of a province gen- 
erally led to the deposition and punishment of the governor; 
at the end of his term a vote of thanks by the provincial 
assembly assured him further political advancement. '' For- Tacitus, 
merly," said Thrasea in the senate, "not praetors and '^""'■^^^' 

XV. 21 

consuls alone, but even private citizens used to be sent to (abridged). 
provinces to inspect them and report on the loyalty of the 
subjects; and the nations were timidly sensitive to the 
opinion even of these private persons. But now it is we 
who carry our homage and flattery to them. The meanest 
of them decrees thanks, or more eagerly accusations, con- 
cerning us. So each administration begins firmly but ends 
feebly, — our })roconsuls are no longer severe judges, but 
rather candidates for popular suffrage." The speaker, a 
narrow republican, did not know how glorious was this 



230 



From DyarcJiy to Monarchy 



Tacitus, 
Annals, 
xiv. 43 ff. 



Death of 

Burrus and 
of Seneca. 



Personal rule 
of Nero, 

64-68 A.D. 



Tacitus, An- 
nals, XV. 44. 



change which had come over the world. "Let the pro- 
vincials retain the right to accuse for extortion," he con- 
tinued, " for we cannot take it from them, but let us take 
away their right of voting thanks to ex-governors. " Although 
this evil resolution was adopted, fortunately it fell into dis- 
use at the death of Nero. Another improvement in the 
condition of the human race came with the law requiring 
the prefect of the city and the governors of provinces to 
receive the complaints of slaves who were suffering ill- 
treatment from their masters. An ancient custom which 
demanded the death of all slaves whose masters had been 
assassinated so shocked the feelings of the people in this 
reign that it could be enforced only with the help of the 
soldiers. 

Burrus died in 62 a.d., and as Nero began to take the 
government into his own hands, Seneca retired to private 
life. Accused of sharing in a conspiracy, he killed him- 
self by order of the emperor. The men of this age did 
not hesitate to die, but they knew not how to live and fight 
for freedom and principle. By recommending suicide, 
Stoicism aided tyranny. 

Though the personal rule of Nero was a capricious 
despotism, it was short, and reached the provinces only 
when near its end. He was vain and extravagant, but his 
acts of cruelty were few. In estimating his character we 
must bear in mind that Roman society was then a cess- 
pool of impurity, "where all things hideous and shameful 
from every part of the world found their centre and 
became popular." Nero stood above the average Roman 
in taste and perhaps even in morals; the prince was 
worthy of his people. At least, he usually avoided the 
bloody shows of the arena and interested himself in harm- 
less arts. When a great fire destroyed the larger part of 



n 



The Christians 231 

Rome, he sheltered and fed the sufferers, and helped Nero was 
rebuild their houses. The worst blot on his reign was the ^^^^^ ^^_.^^^ 
persecution of the Christians on the groundless suspicion little reason. 
that they had caused the mischief. Many were condemned. 
"Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Cov- ib. 
ered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and 
perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to 
flames and burned to serve as a nightly illumination" of 
'the prince's gardens. The Romans, who as yet knew little 
of the Christians, considered them a sect of Jews, and 
despised them because they then belonged to the lowest 
class of society. Nero's persecution, however, was only a 
sudden outburst of ferocity which did not extend beyond 
the city. 

There was a fundamental difference between the Chris- christians 
tians and the best of the Romans of this age; while Seneca and Romans, 
conceived high ideals of virtue, which he expressed in 
sounding words, St. Paul, his contemporary, lived and died 
nobly. Abundantly supplied with ideas, the old world 
had grown too feeble to produce a hero; the Christians, 
however ignorant, stubborn, and even quarrelsome some p. 263. 
of them may have been, were making the world new by 
bringing into it the spirit of their perfect Master. 

Reaching the provinces at last, the tyranny of Nero The end of 
stirred up revolt, and the empire rapidly drifted away 
from him. Galba, governor of Hither Spain, was pro- 
claimed emperor. Nero fled from the city and took refuge 
in a dingy cell provided by a freedman. A few attendants 
stood about him. "Some one show me how to die," he 
begged, but no one obeyed. The end was drawing near. 
The senate had declared him a public enemy, and he 
heard the tramp of approaching horses. " Pity that such Suetonius, 
an artist should die ! " he said as he stabbed himself. Nero,^<^. 



232 



From Dyairhy to Monarchy 



The military 
revolution, 

68-69 A.D. 

Tacitus, His- 
tories, i-iii ; 
Suetonius, 
Galba; Otho; 
Vitellius. 



An able ruler of his province, Galba was too indiscreet 
and obstinate to be successful in his new and trying posi- 
tion. After ruling a few months he was killed by the 
pretorians, who transferred their allegiance to Otho, once 
a roisterer in Nero's youthful society. The troops on the 
Rhine, however, nominated their general Vitellius to the 
imperial office and marched with him against Rome. After 




A Triumphal Procession with the Seven Golden Candlesticks 

(A Relief on the Arch of Titus.) 



P. 205. 



a feeble resistance Otho killed himself. Vitellius, now 
emperor, though a good-natured man, Avas a sluggard and 
a monstrous eater. He used to invite himself to dine with 
one noble after another, and generally bankrupted his host 
by a single meal. Meantime Vespasian, procurator of 
Judea, was offered the imperial purple by the troops of the 
East, who in turn overcame and killed Vitellius. Thus in 
little more than twelve months, Rome saw the making of 



Vespasian 233 

four emperors, one a candidate of the pretorians, the 
others of the armies of the frontier. It was natural that ' 
those who protected the empire should claim a voice in 
selecting the ruler, and that, in the absence of a repre- 
sentative system, the armies, in substituting civil war for 
the ballot, should- take the place of the old republican 
assemblies. This military revolution had some good results : 
it lessened the political value of the capital, and it ended 
in giving the empire an able ruler. In fact Vespasian was 
the first in a line of princes trained in the cam'p, — uncor- 
rupted by the impure atmosphere of Rome, able, experi- 
enced, and broad-minded, — who were to give the empire 
its most prosperous era. 

In appearance as well as in birth Vespasian was plebeian. Vespasian 
He was short and stumpy, with large neck, broad chin, ^q „q ^'j^ 
and hooked nose; his little eyes never rested, and his face 
was deeply furrowed with care. On his accession he had Tacitus, 
great dif^culties to meet, for again the empire seemed on . " '^^^'^"^' 
the verge^ of disruption. For some time the Jews had Suetonius, 
been in fierce revolt against rulers who had oppressed ^^-^A"-^^'^- 

... Josephus, 

them and had permitted insults to their religion. Their je-wish Wc 

uprising threw the entire East into a ferment, while in the 

West, Civilis, a freedman, aspiring to the imperial office, 

led the tribes of the lower Rhine in rebellion, and at the 

same time the recent civil war made the future of Rome 

itself uncertain. 

The emperor was equal to the emergency. One of his Titus 
generals suppressed the revolt in Gaul; his own son, Titus, y^Jusalem 
was left in Judea to besiege Jerusalem, the strongly fortified 70 a.d. 
capital of the Jews. As they refused to accept any terms 
offered them, no quarter was thereafter given. It was a 
war to death. The Jews believed that God would protect 
his holy temple, and that at the critical moment the 



234 



From DyarcJiy to MoiiarcJiy 



Messiah would come to save his people from the oppressor 
and to make them rulers of the world. They fought there- 
fore with fanatic zeal, and as famine threatened they even 
ate human flesh. When, after a five months' siege, the 
Romans stormed the city and the temple, the Jews killed 
their wives, their children, and then one another as the lot 
determined, so that the victors found nothing but flames 
and death. jNlore than a million Jews were destroyed 
during the siege; not a hundred thousand were taken cap- 
tive. It is interesting to notice that the temple of the 




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ffiFi BoUjori, Dtl, 



The Sacred Way 



Capitoline Jupiter was burned about the same time as that 
of Jehovah; but while the Roman god soon received a new 
dwelling, Jehovah's temple remained in ruins; his worship 
could no longer be limited to a single house or province, 
for it was to be universal. 

This reign began a new era in the relations between the 
senate and the emperor. As the old republican nobility, 
which had considered the prince a usurper, was now dying 
out, Vespasian recruited it with new families from Italy 
Vespasian, 9. ^^^ ^j^^ provinces, — the ablest and the most loyal he could 
P- 138- find. Thus the senatorial order became again a nobility 



Better feel- 
ing between 
the prince and 
the senate. 

Suetonius, 



Public Works 235 

of merit, which henceforth, instead of conspiring against 
the prince, generally supported him. The knights, re- 
cruited in like manner, devoted themselves in increasing pp. 227, 252. 
numbers to the imperial service. 

These provincial families brought better morals into the Better morals 
society of the capital, to replace the depraved life which J^^^ "^^' 
Rome had inherited from the republic. There was a 
corresponding change in education. Whereas the old 
families had trained their children in republican traditions 
by means of private tutors, the sons of the new nobility 
learned the broader and more wholesome lessons of the 
present under public instructors endowed by the emperor. 
Quintilian, a famous rhetorician, occupied such an endowed 
position for twenty years. 

Nero and his immediate successors had neglected the Pubiicworks. 
roads, the fortifications, and the public buildings, and yet 
had left the government nearly bankrupt. To refill the 
treasury and to repair the public works, Vespasian increased 
the taxes of the empire. With his careful management of 
the revenues, he had money for education, for the help of 
unfortunate cities in the provinces, and for new buildings 
at Rome. The most famous of his works is an immense 
amphitheatre, usually known as the Colosseum, on the low The Coios- 
ground surrounded by the Palatine, the Esquiline, and the ^^"™ *^^'^' 

vian Amphi- 

Caelian Hills. It has the form of an ellipse, and is said to theatre), 
have seated eighty-seven thousand spectators. Here the P. 347, 
Roman people gathered to see the combats of gladiators, 
and of men and savage beasts. Sometimes, too, the arena 
was converted into a lake, on which naval battles were 
fought. No other monument now standing illustrates so 
well the grandeur and the depravity of Rome. xA.s Ves- 
pasian died before completing this work, Titus finished it. The Arch of 
The latter also erected the arch which bears his name, at '^'^"^- 



236 



From DyarcJiy to Monarchy 



the highest point of the Sacred Way which leads from the 
Colosseum through the Forum to the Capitoline Hill. 
This arch commemorates the conquest of the Jews. The 
reliefs represent features of the triumphal procession: on 
one side, the car of Titus; on the other, men carrying the 




The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre 



Titus em- 
peror, 79-8] 

A.D. 

Suetonius, 
Titus, I. 



//;. 8. 



spoils, including the "seven golden candlesticks " of the 
temple at Jerusalem. 

Titus had quietly succeeded his father. His benevo- 
lence toward citizens and subjects alike made him the 
most popular of the emperors, " the delight and the darling 
of mankind." "Of all who petitioned for any favor, he 
sent none away without hopes. And when his ministers 
represented to him that he promised more than he could 
perform, he replied, 'No one ought to go away downcast 
from his prince.' Once at supper, reflecting that he had 
favored no one that dav, he uttered this memorable and 
justly admired saying, 'My friends, I have lost a day.' " 
As chief pontiff he thought it his duty to keep his hands 
undefiled; and accordingly after accepting that ofEce he 



Pompeii 



^?>7 



would condemn no man to death, however great might be 
the offence. In fact he was too indulgent to be just; this 
easy temper made his successor's task more difficult. 

The chief event of his reign was an eruption of Vesuvius. Destruction 
For ages this volcano had been inactive, so that the Cam- ^ ^^ ' 

o 79 A.D. 

panians had fearlessly covered its sides with vineyards, 

while wild boars inhabited the woods on the top. In the piiny, Lei!- 

reign of Nero an earthquake shook all Campania and ^^''•^- ^i i6. 

injured the cities near the mountain. Finally, in 79 a.d.,- 

the fearful eruption took place which buried Pompeii, a 

city of twenty thousand inhabitants, Herculaneum, and 

some smaller ])laces. In bringing Pompeii to light, — its 




A Body foune in Pompeii 

(Museum of Pompeii.) 



temples, shops, and dwellings, with their statues, wall- 
paintings, furniture, and tools, — modern excavations 
have afforded an invaluable opportunity for the study of 
ancient life and civilization. 

After ruling but two years Titus died and was succeeded Domitian 
by Domitian, his younger brother. Unlike Titus, the new gj^.^^'^^'j) 
prince was interested in books, but without experience in Surtonius 
military affairs. Though the empire was rarely at peace, i^oimtuxn. 



238 



From Dyarchy to Mo7iarcJiy 



The northern 
frontier. 

Tacitus, 
Agricola. 



P. 251. 



The Dacian 
War, 85-89 
A.D. 



The adminis- 
tration. 

Suetonius, 
Domitian, 8. 



P. 227. 



his reign was noted for unusual activity along the northern 
frontier. Agricola, an able general, extended the boundary 
of the province of Britain to Caledonia, the modern Scot- 
land, and built a frontier wall from the Frith of Clyde to 
the Frith of Forth. The emperor himself took the field 
against the Germans. During his reign the troops in this 
quarter were engaged in building a wall and a series of 
forts from the upper Rhine to the upper Danube. These 
defences, begun by Vespasian and completed long after- 
ward by Hadrian, protected an exposed part of the 
boundary. In fact a line of fortresses extended from 
the mouth of the Rhine to the mouth of the Danube. The 
Dacians, who lived north of the Danube and who were 
fast adopting Roman civilization, invaded the empire. 
In his war with them Domitian met with so little success 
that he granted them favorable terms of peace, and gave 
their chief valuable presents, which the enemies of the 
prince maliciously termed tribute. 

Throughout his reign Domitian held the government 
firmly in hand. Able men commanded on the frontier, 
and the provinces were probably never better ruled than 
under him. At home he chastised vice with an iron hand, 
and tried to force upon society the austere moral standard 
of the primitive Romans. An autocrat by nature, he 
worked systematically to gain entire control of the gov- 
ernment and to put the senate beneath him. With this 
end in view, he held the consulship continually and had 
himself made perpetual censor, while he gained the sup- 
port of the troops by increasing their pay. His hatred of 
the senators was inflamed by the discovery that many of 
them shared in the conspiracy of Saturninus, a rebellious 
governor of Upper Germany. From that time to the end 
of his reign, he was a terror to the nobility as well as 



Literatttre 239 

to the Stoics, whose teachings glorified conspiracy and Tacitus, 

"tyrannicide." Meantime a plot developed in his own ^.f^^^^^^- 2 f. 
household. His wife Domitia, fearing for her own safety, 
induced some servants and pretorians to murder him. 

"Like their god Janus, the Roman emperors have a The emperor 

double face." In estimating their character we must bear ^^^^ 

in mind that the one most hateful to the nobility was often Duruy, His- 

the most just and merciful protector of the provinces. So tory of Rome, 

_ iv. p. 732. 
it was with Domitian. History composed in the senatorial 

circle has branded him a tyrant; if the subject nations p. 257. 

could speak, they would bless his memory. 

The intellectual life of this period is closely connected Literature of 

the period, 
with the political development. The literary activity of 

the Age of Augustus was too brilliant to be lasting. Even , 
before his death a decline set in from two causes : first, 
from mere exhaustion of literary energy; and second, from 
the changed relation between the prince and the writers. 
Weary at length of sounding the praises of their patron, 
these republican spirits showed their real nature to be hos- 
tile to the new government. Their conduct drove Augus- 
tus to harsh measures, — for instance, to the banishment of 
Ovid. Developing the later policy of Augustus, Tiberius P. 218. 
not only refused to patronize literature, but even repressed 
freedom of speech. He acted on the correct understand- 
ing that writers and speakers alike voiced the sentiments 
of the nobility who opposed him. Had that party striven 
manfully to limit the power of the prince, or to displace 
him by a better form of government, it would have claimed 
a large share of our sympathy. But it failed to create a 
single political idea. Conscious that government by the 
senate was no longer possible, it nevertheless looked back 
to the republic for ideals, — especially to the murderers of 
Caesar. Though the world might admire individuals for 



240 



From DyarcJiy to MonarcJiy 



Velleius 
Paterculus. 



Valerius 
Maximus. 



Poetry. 



Persius, 
34-62 A.D. 

Lucan, 
39-65 A.D. 



their bold independence, it had nothing to hope from a 
party which strove only to return to a past its impotence 
and tyranny had disgraced. 

In the reign of Tiberius, Velleius Paterculus, who had 
long served his emperor as an army officer, wrote a short 
History of Rome to the year 30 a.d. The earlier period he 
treated briefly, his own age with greater fulness. Wordy 
and pompous, he is fairly accurate in his statements of 
fact. Undoubtedly sincere in his admiration of Tiberius, 
he overflows with eulogy, like a partisan rather than a calm- 
tempered historian. The same criticism applies to a con- 
temporary, Valerius Maximus, who wrote Memoralyte Acts 
and Sayings in nine books. The object seems t^ have 
been to supply the youth with material for declamations. 
The work is untrustworthy, but contains some interesting 
and useful information. 

Among the Romans, history as well as oratory was par- 
tisan. With this limitation neither branch of literature 
could thrive under Tiberius and his immediate successors. 
Poetry and philosophy had more scope. The Satires of 
Persius show the author to have been a pure-minded 
moralist imbued with Stoicism. He wrote under Nero. 
About the same time Lucan, nephew of Seneca, the phi- 
losopher, composed an epic poem, the Fharsalia, on the 
civil war between Caesar and Pompey. Like his uncle he 
was a provincial, and for a time he stood well at the court 
of Nero. But falling into disfavor, he finished his poem 
as an ardent republican. Afterward he was charged with 
conspiracy, and killed himself by order of the prince. 
Most writers of the age, considering a simple style insipid, 
sought to attract attention by rhetorical bombast, far- 
fetched metaphors, and other u-nnatural devices. In this 
respect they reflected the artificial society in which they 



Philosophy and Science 



241 



lived. An exception to the rule is Petronius/ who wrote 
a satirical romance in twenty books, of which we have 
some fragments. He is coarse, yet natural and vigorous, 
and his work throws light on the corrupt society of the day. 
Seneca, the philosopher, shared with his age the striving 
after brilliancy in language. Nevertheless he gives evi- 
dence of the broader, deeper thought which the provinces 
were bringing Rome. A great 
improvement in this direc- 
tion came with the P'lavian 
princes, who patronized liter- 
ature and introduced fresh 
life from the provinces. In 
this age Pliny the Elder wrote 
a Natural Histoi-y in thirty- 
seven books. In addition to 
the natural sciences, it in- 
cluded geography, medicine, 
and art. An encyclopaedia 
compiled from two thousand 
different works, it is a great 
storehouse of knowledge. 
What Pliny did for science 
Quintilian, a native of Spain, 
already mentioned, achieved 
for rhetoric. His T?-aining of the Orator, in twelve books, 
gives a complete course in rhetoric, beginning with the boy 
and ending with the well-equipped public speaker. The 
work is valuable not only for the famous author's principles 
of rhetoric, but also for his opinions of the leading Greek 
and Latin writers. 

1 Probably Nero's " master of pleasure," mentioned by Tacitus, An- 
iiah, xvi. 18. 



Petronius. 




" Seneca " 

(Museum of the Terme, Rome.) 



Philosophy 
and science. 
Seneca. 
P. 228. 



P. 234. 
Pliny the 
Elder. 



Quintilian, 
35- (about) 

100 A.D. 
P. 235. 



242 



From DyarcJiy to MonarcJiy 



other fields 
of learning. 



Other fields of learning were cultivated, as rural econ- 
omyj military strategy, and law. The tyranny of Domitian's 
later years again repressed literature. In his time Martial, 
a pensioned court poet, wrote brilliant Epigrams. Unex- 
celled in his special kind of poetry, he was weak and 
immoral, and represents therefore the worst side of society 
rather than its ideals. Meantime the thorough reforms of 
Vespasian were helping bring a brighter era, not only in 
political life, but also in literature and in morals. 



Sources 

Reading. Tacitus, ^;/;zrt'/i', xi-xvi ; Histories; Agricola ; Dio Cassius Ix-lxvii 

(after 47 A.d. in an epitome); Plutarch, Galba ; Otho ; Suetonius, 
Claudius ; Ne7'o ; Galba ; Otho ; Vitellius ; Vespasian ; Titus ; Do- 
mitiaji ; Josephus, Jeivish War; Eutropius vii. 13-22; works of 
Lucan, Seneca, Petronius, Persius, Pliny, Quintilian, and other con- 
temporary writers (p. 206 ff) ; The N'ew Testaf/ient. Cf. Botsford, Story 
of Rome, ch. x. 



Modern Works 

Duruy, History of Rome (TV, V), chs. Ixxiv-lxxviii ; Merivale, His- 
tory of the Romans (V, VI), chs. xlix-lxii ; Taylor, Constitutional and 
Political History of Rome, ch. xix ; Bury, SttidenVs Roman Empire, 
chs. xv-xxii ; Capes, Early Empire (epochs), chs. iv-xix ; Allcroft 
and Haydon, Early Principate (tutorial), chs. xii-xx ; Baring-Gould, 
Tragedy of the Ccesars, 2 vols. ; Freeman, Historical Essays, ii : The 
Flavian Emperors ; Mahaffy, Greek World under Roman Szoay, chs. 
i-xii ; Rydberg, Roman Days, pp. 48-147 ('Emperors in Marble') ; 
Dyer, City of Rome, sec. iv ; Pompeii, its History^ Buildings and 
Antiquities ; Mau, Pompeii, its Life and Art; Boissier, Rome ajid 
Pompeii ; Fisher, History of the Christian Church, pp. 7-44 ; Farrar, ' 
Early Days of Christianity, i. pp. 1-77 ; other works on church his- 
tory, p. 247 ; Mackail, Latin Literature, bk. Ill ; Cruttwell, History of 
Ro?nan Literature, bk. III. chs. i-vi ; Simcox, Latin Literature, II. 
pts. iv-vi ; Bulwer, Last Days of Pompeii (a novel). 



CHAPTER XI 

THE LIMITED MONARCHY 

(96-180 A.D.) 

The Five Good Emperors 

" If the intellectual ability of kings and magistrates were exerted to 
the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more 
orderly and settled." — Sallust, Catiline, 2. 

As soon as the senate heard of the death of Domitian, it Nerva 
conferred the imperial powers upon Nerva, one of its mem- ^?^^!f*^'^' 
bers, a man who was now about sixty-five years old, and 
whose life was without reproach. He in turn agreed to put 
no senator to death. By this act and by granting the sen- 
ate a due share in the administration, he changed the 
government from a tyranny, such as it had been under 
Domitian, to a constitutional monarchy. To commemo- 
rate this event, the government struck coins bearing the 
inscriptions, libertas pvblica — public liberty — and roma 
RENASCENS — Romc rcbom. Tacitus, the historian, who 
considered all the earlier princes usurpers and tyrants, Tacitus, 
declared that Nerva had united two things hitherto incom- Agruola 3. 
patible, monarchy and liberty. 

For a long time events had been leading up to this era An era of 
of good feeling. The old nobility, whose republican sym- ^°^ ^^ ^°^ 
pathies were confined to Rome, or at most to Italy, and P. 234. 
who had considered the emperor a tyrant, was now nearly 
extinct; a new nobility, abler and broader-minded, chosen 

243 



244 



L ini itcd Monarchy 



Weakness of 
Nerva. 



Pliny, Pane- 
gyric, 6. 



Trajan 
emperor, 

98-117 A.D, 



by the emperor, saw in him a patron and friend. And 
as the imperial government had passed the experimental 
stage, and had become permanent, the prince could again 
permit freedom of speech; he could even overlook the now 

harmless declamations on the 
virtue of Brutus. Had it 
not been for Domitian's 
fierce war upon the senate, 
we could have dated the be- 
ginning of this era with the 
accession of Vespasian. 

Nerva corrected the worst 
abuses of the preceding reign, 
and put an end to the law 
of treason, which Domitian 
had revived. He then ad- 
vised his subjects to forget 
past wrongs in the happy 
present. Like Titus, he was 
too amiable to be a just and 
vigorous ruler. Pliny the 
Younger, who lived at this 
time, exclaimed, "The em- 
pire is falling down upon the 
emperor's head ! " AVhen 
Nerva found himself unable 
to control the pretorians, 
he adopted as his son and 
successor the able general Trajan, then commander in 
Upper Germany. 

Nerva died in the second year of his reign, and the 
purple robe passed to his heir. Whereas the earlier princes 
had all been Romans or Italians, Trajan was the first pro- 




Xer^'a 
ix his consular robe 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



Trajan 245 

vincial emperor. He was from Spain, a country which 

had already furnished Rome many men of learning and of 

letters. In contrast, too, with the earlier emperors, who 

were uniformly peaceful, he was ambitious for conquest. 101-102, 

In two wars he subdued Dacia, a great country north of the i°S-io6 a.d. 

Mommsen, 

Danube, and converted it into a Roman province a thou- provinces, 
sand miles in circuit. The work of settlement and of i- P- 221 ff. 
organization followed rapidly upon the conquest. While 
the emperor found land here for his veterans, other colo- 
nists poured into the province from various parts of the 
empire. Engineers, architects, and workmen built roads 
and fortresses. Miners found iron and gold in the Car- 
pathian Mountains. Merchants travelled to and from the 
province along the new highways. The native population 
either fled from the country or adopted the speech and 
habits of the colonists; and though these settlers were of 
various nationalities, the Latin language prevailed, and 
even the Roman name has survived there in the modern 
Roumania. 

As a memorial of this conquest the emperor built a Trajan's 
forum between the Capitoline and the Quirinal on a spot 
he had levelled for the purpose by cutting away the ridge 
which had previously connected the two hills. The chief 
adornment of the new forum was a marble column a hun- 
dred and twenty-eight feet high, covered by a spiral band 
which winds about it from base to summit, and which tells 
in sculptured reliefs the story of the conquest, — marches, 
battles, sieges, the building of camps, the burning of 
towns, the care of wounds, the slaughter of prisoners, the Dumy, 
last scene in the life of the Dacian chief Decebalus, and ^'^^"'^' 

. V, p. 246 ff 

the presentation of his head to the populace of Rome. ,^^^. ji'ustra- 
Though Trajan's own account of the Dacian wars has" been tions). 
lost, this "chiselled picture-book " gives us valuable knowl- 



246 



Limited Monarchy 



Eastern con- 
quests. 



edge not only of the campaigns but of the military habits 
of the Romans and of the Northern barbarians. 

After a few years of quiet administration the emperor 
undertook the conquest of the East. One of his generals 




The CoLUiMN of Trajan 



had already conquered Arabia, and had made a province of 
it. There was no difificulty in finding a pretext for war 
with Parthia, the only great power in the East; for the 



Administratioji 247 

Parthian king had placed a nephew on the throne of Arme- 
nia, which he now looked upon as a vassal state. As Rome 
had long claimed this country, Trajan took the field in 
person to expel the intruder. When this easy task was 
done, Armenia became a province. The emperor ought 
then to have organized and fortified it as he had done in 
the case of Dacia. But neglecting this needful work and 
foolishly emulating Alexander the Great, he invaded the 
empire of the Parthians as far as their capital, Ctesiphon, ^ 
a city on the Tigris River. Thence he descended to the 
Persian Gulf. As he there saw a ship bound for India, he 
regretted that old age prevented him from following in 
Alexander's track to that famous, far-off land. Meantime 
the provinces he had hastily 'established about the Tigris 
and Euphrates fell to pieces, and their population rose 
against him. His return march, in which he pretended to 
suppress the revolt, was in fact a disastrous retreat. While 
on his way to Rome he fell sick in Cilicia, and died there 117 a.d. 
— apparently of a fever and of disappointment at the failure 
of his hopes. 

We shall now return to his administration. Following Trajan's ad- 
Nerva's policy, he treated the senators as his equals. "We ^^'^^stration. 
no longer see a master here," Martial exclaimed, "but the x. 12. 
most just of senators." As a guarantee of freedom, he had 
them vote by ballot, instead of openly as heretofore, but 
some of them proved unworthy of the privilege by writing 
coarse jokes on their ballots instead of the names of candi- 
dates. The emperor knew well that such men were inca- 
pable of ruling, and accordingly, though they continued to 
talk much, he granted them less actual power than they had 
enjoyed under Augustus. The consuls, too, had lost much 
of their importance, as their term had been gradually 
reduced to two months. But the republican institutions P. 211, 



248 Limited Mojiaj'cJiy 

p. 238. suffered the severest loss from the emperor's exercisiog the 

duties of the censor without having formally received from 
the senate either the office itself or the authority which 
belonged to it. By thus converting this main prop of the 
nobilit}- into an imperial power, Trajan advanced bevond 
his predecessors in the direction of monarchy. Intelligent 

Letters, is. 20. men understood the situation. '"'It is true,'' says Pliny, 
" that all is done according to the will of one man, who, 
for the common interest, takes upon himself alone the cares 
and the burdens of all." Men like Pliny, however, regarded 
Trajan as a parent rather than a t}Tant. Parental rule may 
indeed be excellent while it lasts; but it cannot be per- 
petual, and it renders those who live under it unfit for 
self-government. 

Italy. This growing power of the emperor appeared in Italy and 

P. 194. in the provinces as well as in Rome. When the finances 

of a municipium fell into disorder, Trajan would send it an 
agent — curator- lei publics — to control its accounts. Such 
an imperial officer gradually usurped authorit}- until, after a 
centur}- or two, he deprived the communit)' of self-govern- 
ment. In Trajan's time, however, the institution was only 

P. 134 f. helpful. Italy had never prospered under Roman rule: the 

burdens of war and the competition of slave labor in the 
provinces had wasted the life of the Italians, and had 
reduced the remnant of their race to beggary. To recruit 
the population, Trajan founded colonies in Italy, and better 
still, he lent the municipia considerable money which they 
were to invest on the security of land, that they might 

Pp- 335' 337- have the interest to use for the maintenance of poor chil- 
dren. At one date in his reign we find the municipia pro- 
viding thus for five thousand children. Pliny tells us the 
object of this institution: ''These children are reared at 
the expense of the state, to be its supporters in war, its 



Municipia and Provinces 249 

ornament in peace. Some day they will fill our camps and Panegyric, 
our tribes; and from them will arise sons who will no ^^* 
longer need assistance." The example set by the emperor 
found many followers both in Italy and in the provinces. 
Though the avowed object was to increase the strength of 
the armies, the institution was humane; we see in it a sign 
of the moral improvem^ent of mankind. 

One of the most important acts of Trajan's reign was the The muni- 
senatorial decree which permitted a municipium, like a "^^^" 
person, to receive bequests. In consequence, wealthy men 
over all the empire began to will property to their towns to 
be used for public works. Accordingly in every part of 
what was once the Roman world the traveller now finds the 
ruins of bridges, aqueducts, and other buildings, which date 
from this prosperous era. Although the emperor aided 
such works, the provinces, the towns, and private persons 
furnished the greater share of the cost. 

As the emperor placed his agents in municipia, wherever The prov- 
and whenever he saw fit, a governor interfered at pleasure ^'^^^^^ 
in the administration of the towns of his province. In 
special cases he referred everything to the prince. For 
instance, Pliny, when ruler of Bithynia, a province which 
had fallen into disorder, consulted Trajan on such trivial 
matters as the building of a public bath, the removal of 
a tomb, and the repair of a sewer. The interest of the 
emperor and the governor in the welfare of the towns is 
praiseworthy; but this minute interference was to end long 
afterward in the destruction of municipal freedom, the life 
of ancient society. 

Trajan's administration was energetic, just, and humane. Summary of 
He had the strength to punish evil-doers; he repealed ^l^^^'^*^^''^- 
oppressive taxes; and costly as were his wars and his 
buildings, he laid no new burdens on his people. In his 



250 



Limited MonarcJiy 



Hadrian 
emperor, 

II7-I38 A.D. 



His new for- 
eign policy. 

Gibbon, De- 
cline and 
Fall of the 
Roman Em- 
pire, i. p. 9. 



personal expenses he practised the strictest economy, and 
his wife Plotina was as frugal and as thrifty as he. Like 

Livia, she was the 
emperor's able 
helper, and when 
he died, her tact 
brought to the 
throne the man who 
had stood highest 
in her husband's 
favor. 

The heir was 
Hadrian, a kins- 
man of the late 
emperor both by 
birth and by mar- 
riage. He was al- 
ready well known 
as an able general 
and provincial gov- 
ernor, thoroughly 
experienced in 
military and ad- 
ministrative affairs. In addition to these talents he had 
a broad education, a scholar's tastes, and a restless desire 
to be always seeing, learning, and working. 

Of his twenty-one years of rule — 11 7-138 a.d. — he 
spent thirteen or fourteen in travelling through the prov- 
inces. " Careless of the difference of seasons and of cli- 
mates, he marched on foot and bareheaded, over the 
snows of Caledonia and the sultry plains of Upper Egypt; 
nor was there a province which, in the course of his reign, 
was not honored by the presence of the monarch." One 




Plotina, Wife of Trajan 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



Hadrian , 251 

• 

object of these journeys was diplomatic. Hitherto Rome 
had generally considered foreign nations enemies, and had 
encouraged them to exterminate one another for her own 
advantage. Though Augustus had begun a better policy, 
Hadrian was the first who labored systematically to make 
the border races allies. These friendly neighbors, little 
less civilized than the provincials, were to surround the 
empire, like an outer bulwark, against the formidable bar- 
barians beyond. To maintain peace without increasing 
the army, he found it necessary to abandon all his prede- 
cessor's conquests excepting Dacia and Arabia. 

Another object of his travels was to improve the armies His military 
and to strengthen the frontier defences. He banished 
playhouses and other demoralizing pleasures from the 
camps; he dismissed "beardless tribunes," who had 
received appointments through favoritism; and in his 
own words, he restored "the discipline of Augustus." 
For the legion he substituted a new and improved form 
of the phalanx; he introduced heavy-armed cavalry, and P. 46. 
advised his officers to study carefully the military systems 
of various foreign states, with a view to adopting from 
them whatever might be found useful. Under him the 
armies were so well exercised and trained that they could 
perform wonderful labors in marching and in building. 
Among his frontier defences the best known is the so-called 
Wall of Hadrian, which extends across northern Britain 
from near the mouth of the Tyne to Solway Firth. Origi- 
nally it consisted of two parallel moats and walls strength- 
ened by a series of turrets, castles, 'and camps. Equally 
important was his completion of the defences between the p. 238. 
Rhine and the Danube. By such fortifications as well as 
by his military reforms, he gave the empire new strength 
for resisting the assaults of the barbarians. 



252 



Limited Monairhy 



Public works. 



Botsford, 
Greece, p. 73. 



Increasing 
importance of 
the provinces. 



Civil service. 



P. 193. 



Besides these military improvements, he built temples, 
theatres, and aqueducts in every part of the empire. At 
Athens he completed the Olympieum, a great temple begun 
by Pisistratus more than six hundred years before him. 
He was fond of Athens, and encouraged her professors 
of rhetoric and philosophy by large bounties, by regular 
salaries, or by appointments to ofhce. 

A tendency of his travels through the empire and of his 
administration in general was to increase the importance 
of the provinces and to diminish that of the capital. His 
division of Italy into four districts, each under a judge, ^ 
was the first distinct step toward making it a province and 
Rome a municipium. A corresponding change was taking 
place in the position of the senate. Deprived of most of 
the authority Augustus had left it in the provinces and in 
Italy itself, it gradually came to be a mere city council. 

The amount of administrative business in the hands of 
the prince had greatly increased since Augustus. Before 
Hadrian the members of the emperor's household and a 
few knights had helped in this work. To him, however, 
is chiefly due the creation of a civil service, — a cdmplex 
system of offices, with special functions for each, and with 
regular promotions from the lowest to the highest." It 
was a further misfortune for the senate that the knights 
alone were employed in these duties. The emperor needed 
especially a great number of revenue officials, for he had 
abolished the farming of taxes and had undertaken to col- 
lect them directly. Preparatory to a vigorous financial 



1 These judges — indices — were withdrawn by Antoninus Pius, but 
reestablished by Marcus Aurelius under the name of iuridici. 

^ jNIost of these officials were prefects and procurators. They were 
wholly distinct in nature from the old magistracies, — consulships, prse- 
torships, etc., which continued as before. 



Privy Council 



253 



administration, he remitted all taxes due on his accession 
and burned the accounts in Trajan's Forum. 

The highest place in the purely civil service was that of The privy 
imperial treasurer. More important still, and second only ^°^^"^- 
to the emperor, was the pretorian prefect, — now usually 
a jurist," — whose duties henceforth were judicial as well 
as military. The emperor, who had great -respect for the 




Thk Mausoleum of Hadrian 
(The Tiber in the foreground.) 



jurists, made up his privy council of men of this class, 
some of whom were senators, others knights. Such a body 
of advisers had existed informally from the time of Augus- 
tus, but Hadrian made it a recognized imperial institution. 

By his thorough reforms he put the machinery of govern- summary ci 
ment, as" well as the military system, in such order that it 
continued to run with little repair for more than a hundred 



reforms. 



254 



Lhnited Monarchy 



Antoninus 

Pius, 

emperor, 

I38-161 A.D. 



P. 248. 



Marcus 
Aurelius 
Antoninus, 
emperor, 

161-180. 



Marcus 

Aurelius, 

Meditations, 



years. Underlying all his work we find this principle, — 
the armies, the governors, Rome, and the emperor existed 
for the welfare of the provinces. As he was the first real 
monarch, he was likewise the first servant of the empire. 

Antoninus, surnamed Pius,^ the heir of Hadrian, was the 
first emperor from Gaul. He was a man of estimable char- 
acter who loved justice and peace. His reign is noted for 
humane legislation. Especially he limited the right of the 
master to torture his slaves for the purpose of extorting evi- 
dence;^ and he originated the legal principle on which all 
trials are now conducted throughout the civilized world, 
that an accused person should be considered innocent till 
proved guilty. Enlarging on the charitable policy of Tra- 
jan, he set aside an endowment for orphan girls, whom 
he called Faustinianse, after his wife Faustina. His long 
reign, unmarked by events, was prosperous and happy, 
not from his own ability, however, so much as from the 
excellent condition in which his predecessor had left the 
empire. 

When he died the imperial powers passed to Marcus 
Aurelius, his adopted son, a native of Spain. This emperor 
associated with himself as colleague Lucius Verus, his 
brother by adoption; so that Rome was ruled for a time 
by two Augusti. Verus sought only pleasure; Aurelius was 
a Stoic philosopher, whose chief aim was to do his duty 
toward his fellow-men. But he had little time to give to 
books and meditation; for the easy disposition of his pred- 
ecessor had left him a great legacy of troubles. On his 
accession, he found war brewing along the northern and 
eastern frontiers. The troops of Syria had grown too 



1 Either from his reverence for his adoptive father Hadrian, or from 
his courteous treatment of the senate. 

2 Hadrian had already restricted this custom to some extent. 



Marcus Aureliiis 255 

effeminate to resist the invading Parthians; but fortunately War with 
there were e^ood generals in the East, the ablest of whom ^^ l^' 

° ° ' 162-166 A.D. 

was Avidius Cassius. A Syrian by birth, but of the old 
Roman type of severity, he put the licentious troops on 
coarse rations, burned the disobedient, and restored disci- 
pline. He defeated the Parthians, overran their country, 
and compelled them to sue for peace. Rome retained a 166 a.d. 
part of Mesopotamia. 

Meantime a fearful pestilence was raging in the East; Pestilence, 
and as the troops returned from the war, they spread the 
disease over the eastern half of the empire and over Italy 
itself. It weakened the army; in some places, as in Italy, 
it carried off perhaps half the population; and the efforts 
to relieve it so drained the treasury that the prince lacked 
funds for the defence of the empire. The enemies of The northern 
Rome were growing formidable. All Europe beyond the '"°^^^*^''- 
frontier was full of restless tribes, which threatened the 
civilized countries of the Mediterranean. The Parthian 
war was scarcely done when they broke into the empire in 
a continuous line from northern Italy to the farthest limits 
of Dacia. The leaders were the Marcomanni, a powerful 
Teutonic nation who lived in what is now Bohemia, and 
who gave their name to the war. 

Aurelius sold the crown jewels to provide means for the First Marco- 
war; and for want of better material he recruited the army j5„_j7r ^ d' 
with slaves and gladiators. Both emperors took the field, 
and when Verus died in the following year, Aurelius con- 
tinued the war alone. After seven years of hard fighting 
he won an honorable peace, which, however, was broken 
while he was engaged in putting down a revolt of Avidius Second 

Cassius in the East. As soon as he had finished this work, „.^^ „ 1 

' war, 178-180 

he returned to the Danube, and conquered both the Mar- a.d. 
comanni and the lazyges, a Slavic tribe on the west of 



256 



Limited Mojiarchy 



Administra- 
tion of 
Aurelius. 



P. 264. 



The limited 
monarchy. 

Pp. 218, 220, 
227, 234, 238, 
243- 



The litera- 
ture of the 
period. 



Tacitus, 

55-120 A.D. 



P. 293 ff. 



Dacia. He was about to make their countries into 
provinces when death cut short his work. 

In liis administration he followed the lines marked out 
by his predecessors, yet with a disposition to waste the 
revenues in gifts to the populace and to the soldiers. His 
treatment of the Christians we shall consider in another 
connection, and shall now turn our attention to the intel- 
lectual, moral, and religious condition of the age. 

The long struggle between the prince and the senate 
which began in the later years of Augustus came to an end 
with the death of Domitian. The prince triumphed; the 
nobles recognized the monarchy as a necessary evil; on 
this understanding the "good emperors " gave them liberty, 
and their organ, the senate, a certain degree of political 
influence. Thus the dyarchy developed into a limited 
monarchy. 

This political change affected literature: the sufferings 
of republicanism under Domitian, followed by the happy 
reigns of Xerva and Trajan, produced the last great' writers 
of classic Latin, Tacitus and Juvenal. One wrote history, 
the other satire, yet with a kindred spirit. The Annals 
and the Histories ^ of Tacitus cover the period from the 
death of Augustus to the death of Domitian. Besides these 
larger works he wrote a monograph on the Life and Char- 
acter of Agricola, the conqueror of Britain, and another, 
the Germania, on the character and institutions' of the 
Germans of his time. His experience as an army officer 
and a statesman gave him a clear understanding of mili- 
tary and political events. He was conscientious, too, and 
though he made little use of documents as sources, we may 



1 Of the Annals we have bks. I-IV, parts of V and VI, and XI- 
XVI, with gaps at the beginning and end of this last group of books ; 
of the Histories there remain bks. I-IV and the first half of V. 



Literatiu^e 257 

trust his statement of all facts which were known to the 
public. His style is exceedingly rapid, vivid, and ener- 
getic. His excellences as an historian, however, are bal- 
anced by serious defects. Though he owed his seat in the 
senate to Domitian, he belonged to the strictest circle of 
aristocrats, who were out of joint with the times and 
blocked the way of progress. Hatred of the "tyrants" 
from Tiberius to Domitian, and the bitterness he felt 
because of his party's failure, supplied him with inspira- 
tion for his gloomy narrative. He wrote in the reign of 
Trajan, when the empire was at the height of prosperity, 
the happiest age in ancient history; and yet he utterly 
ignored the blessings the imperial government had brought 
the provinces. Rome was everything to him; and within 
this little world, the aristocrats alone were worthy of his 
sympathy. We should not look for fairness in so narrow a 
mind. To most critics his chief merit lies in his dramatic 
portrayal of character; but his prejudice led him uncon- 
sciously to invent bad motives even for the best acts of the 
emperors, especially of Tiberius. His characters, however 
vivid and self-consistent, are the product of his gloomy, 
bitter imagination. Valuable as his work is to one who 
can distinguish between fact and fancy, it is as much satire 
as history. 

Like the historian, Juvenal, author of Satires, was power- juvenai. 
ful and dramatic. With the inspiration of wrath and in 
the spirit of Tacitus, he looked back to the society of 
Rome under Nero and Domitian to find in it nothing but 
hideous vice. The pictures drawn by the historian are 
indeed grand and fascinating; those of the satirist repel 
us by their ugliness; the works of both masters are unreal. 

When Rome renounced the republic, so far as to con- Decline of 
sider her emperors good, she lost her motive for literary iit^'"^*"''^- 
s 



258 



Limited Monarchy 



P]iny the 
Younger. 



Suetonius. 



Jurispru- 
dence. 



Salvius 
Julianus. 



Romanizing 
tke West. 

Pp. 248, 254. 



art. Her writers became shallow and insipid, without 
thought or imagination, who could only repeat and spoil 
what they had read. At the head of this class we may 
place Pliny the Younger, an orator, and for a time gov- 
ernor of Bithynia. One of his speeches, a eulogy on 
Trajan, which has come down to us, is an example of the 
tiresome, feeble style of the day. His Letters, polished 
yet trivial, are valuable for the study of the times. Less 
praise belongs to Suetonius, Hadrian's secretary, whose 
Lives of the CcBsars from Julius to Domitian is a chaotic 
mixture of useful facts and foolish gossip. 

This decline in Latin literature by no means signifies 
a loss of intellectual power. Rather, forsaking an art in 
which their nation had always been inferior to Greece, 
men of ability now preferred administrative work; or they 
devoted themselves to jurisprudence, for which the Romans 
possessed real genius. The jurists had become the chief 
legislators, whose views found expression in. the decrees 
and judgments of the emperor. In Hadrian's reign, Sal- 
vius Julianus, one of their number, collected and systema- 
tized the edicts of all past praetors in a code which, under 
the title Perpetual Edict, had henceforth the authority of 
law, subject to modification by the emperor alone. Juli- 
anus was the first of those eminent jurists who labored to 
perfect the Civil Law, which to this day remains the basis 
of most European codes. 

The tendency of legislation in this age, as has already 
been noticed, was to improve the condition of slaves, and 
of women and children, and to equalize the rights of free- 
men. Connected with this advancement was the process 
of Romanizing the provinces which was going on rapidly 
in all the empire west of Greece. First Cisalpine Gaul 
had adopted the Latin language and civilization, then most 



Civilization 



259 



of Transalpine Gaul and Spain. These countries became Pp. 186, 241, 
so thoroughly Roman that with their fresh life and excellent ^"^5. 254- 
education they gave Rome eminent poets, scholars, and 
even emperors-. The same was coming to be true of Africa. 
Roman civilization gained a foothold, too, in Britain and 
prevailed in Dacia. Along with the progress of culture, 
individuals and entire communities continued to receive 




A Roman Bridge 

(Toledo, Spain.) 



either the full Roman citizenship or the slightly inferior 
Latin rights. This change greatly improved the condition 
of the provincials, for the citizen commanded respect, and 
in case of a capital charge against him, he could appeal to 
the emperor. 

The task of giving the East one civilization had already Hellenic cui- 
been accomplished by the Greeks. From old Hellas to ^"""^^^t^^ 

^ ^ East. 

India theirs was the language of learning, of commerce, 



26o 



Limited Monai'cJiy 



P. 336. 

Hellenic lit- 
erature. 

Appian. 
About 90-100 
A.D. 

160 A. D. 
Arrian. 



Pausanias. 

Plutarch, 
46-120 A.D. 

Murray, 
Anciefit 
Greek 
Literature, 

P- 395 f- 
Lucian. 



1473-1543 

A.D. 



The Graeco- 
Roman 
world . 



and of diplomacy; in the Eastern provinces Greek as well 
as Latin was official. Their race supplied Rome with 
schoolmasters, business men, architects, and artists. 
Athens and Rhodes were the centres of learning, — the 
great university towns, so to speak, to which Rome sent 
her sons. 

A revival of Hellenic literature in this age produced 
some authors of unusual merit. Appian of Alexandria 
wrote a narrative History of Rome, It is true that he was 
uncritical, yet this may be said of nearly every ancient 
historian. Large parts of his work have come down to 
us, and are valuable. The writings of Arrian, a contem- 
porary, included the Anabasis of Alexander, practically a 
biography of the great conqueror, patterned after the like- 
named work of Xenophon. In this age, too, Pausanias 
compiled his Tour of Greece, which describes the classic 
monuments of that country. "Above all, Plutarch wrote 
his immortal Lives, perhaps the most widely and per- 
manently attractive work by one author known to the 
world." Another original genius, Lucian, in bright 
Dialogues, satirized philosophy, religion, and society. 
His work will always be interesting. While the Greeks 
were producing literature, they did not neglect science. 
Galen, the physician of Marcus Aurelius, wrote many works 
on anatomy and medicine. Ptolemy published a system 
of astronomy, in which he represented the earth as the 
centre of the universe. His views were accepted for more 
than a thousand years, till they were superseded by those 
of Copernicus. 

It is a remarkable fact that while Rome was civilizing 
the West she was falling more and more under the influ- 
ence of Greece. Whereas Augustus and Tiberius had been 
thoroughly Roman in character, the emperors from Clau- 



TJie Grceco-Roinan Woi^/d 



261 



dius to Aurelius were controlled by Hellenic ideas. In 
fact the empire was a Grseco-Roman world, in which the 
Greek continued to be a powerful humanizing force. Under 
the Antonines the empire was at its best. Agriculture, 




Marcus Aurelius in his Triumphal Car 

(Palace of the Conservatori, Rome.) 



commerce, and ithe arts flourished through the entire cir- 
cuit of the Mediterranean. Wealth abounded and many 
people were happy. Graeco-Roman government and law, 
industry, manners, ideas, and religion, under the peace of 
Rome, produced this universal prosperity. But the height 



262 



Limited Monarchy 



From ancient 
to mediaeval 
life. 

The Ger- 
manic race. 



Pelham, 
Imperial Do- 
mai7js a?id 
the Colonate. 



Christianity. 
P. 256. 



of development is the beginning of decline. It was not 
till after Marcus Aurelius, however, that the empire showed 
unmistakable signs of decay in the wearing out of old 
institutions and in the exhaustion of strength. Meanwhile 
fresh forces and vital ideas, already setting in, were to 
transform the old world into the new. 

One of the two chief forces to bring about this great 
change was the Germanic race, to which belonged the 
Marcomanni. In the course of his wars Aurelius enlisted 
many of these barbarians in his army and settled many in 
the provinces and in northern Italy. This process, carried 
on by his successors, did much to destroy the Graeco- 
Roman charactisr of the empire and to make it Germanic. 
At the same time it had an important social result. Such 
colonists, — coloni, — though personally free and liable to 
military service, were bound to the soil, which they had to 
till but could not own. Many peasants, too, whom poverty 
reduced to a similar state, were likewise called coloni, 
which thus came to mean "serfs." This new form of 
tenantage probably began on the emperor's estates, whence 
it extended to the lands of private persons. Gradually a 
considerable part of the free rural population fell into serf- 
dom, and meantime numbers of slaves were elevated to the 
same condition. This social class was to be an important 
element of mediaeval life. 

The second force which tended to revolutionize the 
world lay in Christianity. For the multitude of Graeco- 
Roman gods it substituted Our Father in Heaven; for 
bloody sacrifices, pure worship; for learning, love; for 
law, the Sermon on the Mount. This religion arose in 
Judea, but St. Peter carried it early to the "Gentiles," and 
St. Paul preached it even in Rome. Everywhere the lower 
classes eagerly accepted a faith which esteemed the slave 



The Christians 263 

equal to the emperor. Under this dispensation the hum- 
blest on earth were the greatest saints, and all who shared 
in it enjoyed the comforting hope of eternal happiness. 

During the first century of our era, the followers of Persecution 

Christ attracted little attention.^ The learned and the of the chris- 
tians. 

powerful alike considered them unworthy of notice, and the 
government, which protected the public worship of all 
the races within the empire, included the Christians with 
the Jews. Discovering, however, that the Christians were 
a distinct sect, the Romans came gradually to regard 
them as a menace to existing society and government. 
Unlike the Romans, the Christians were intolerant of all 
other religions and exceedingly aggressive in making new 
converts. To keep themselves free from idolatry they 
refused to associate with others in social and public fes- 
tivities, an attitude which won for them the evil name of Tacitus, 
"haters of mankind." In like manner their refusal to wor- ^ '"^'^ ^' 
ship the Genius, or guardian •spirit, of the emperor was 
naturally construed as impiety and treason. The govern- 
ment, always suspicious of secret meetings, could see noth- 
ing but danger in those of the Christians, whose church 
was, in fact, a great secret society with branches in every 
city and town. A class of people, too, who objected to 
military service seemed useless to the State. These were 
the chief reasons why they were persecuted. Their hostility 
to the old-world religion, so intimately connected with 
the well-being of the empire, was in fact a merit. In 
defending their general character, however, we must not 
assume that they were ideal beings. Many of them, when 
accused, obstinately defied the authorities and courted P. 231. 
martyrdom. Such unwise conduct widened the chasm 

^ The persecution under Nero was exceptional; cf. p. 231. 



264 



Limited Monarchy 



The Chris- 
tians under 
Trajan, 



between the civil power and the new Church. The leaders, 

too, by wrangling over minute points of doctrine, added 

further disrepute to their cause. 

The civil authorities throughout the empire proceeded, 

accordingly, to punish the Christians for real or imaginary 

Hadrian, and offences against law and order. We find Trajan, how- 
Antoninus . . r T-. • 1 • 1 

Pius ever, instructing rimy, governor of Bithynia, not to hunt 

them down or to receive" anonymous charges against them, 
but to condemn those only who were openly known as 
Christians. Milder treatment no one could expect. Ha- 
drian discouraged persecution, and made informers respon- 
sible for any outbreaks their accusations might cause. His 
successor, the gentle Antoninus Pius, though a restorer of 
the ancient religion, himself persecuted no one. Never- 
theless in his reign popular hatred forced the magistrates in 
some of the cities to torture and kill prominent Christians. 
^ Under Marcus Aurelius a change came for the worse. 
As popular dislike of the Christians excited tumults in 
many cities, he ordered those who confessed the faith to 
be beaten to death. This measure he regarded as neces- 
sary to the peace of the empire; otherwise he paid the 
Christians little attention. Their trouble came chiefly 
from the people, w^ho regarded them wdth superstitious ha- 
tred. Pestilence, famine, and other calamities demanded 
victims; and accordingly the mob raged at the Christians. 
Riots broke out against them in Lyons. Here as else- 
w^here their enemies asserted, on mere rumor, that in their 
religious meetings they were guilty of gross immorality 
and feasted on children ! One of the new faith writes, 
" First we were driven away from the baths, buildings, 
and all places open to the public; then we had to suffer 
the insults, blows, and violent acts of an infuriated mul- 

Ecclesiastical 

Bi story, m.2,3. titudc." Holding the Christians responsible for the dis- 



The Chris- 
tians under 
Marcus 
Aurelius. 



177 A.D. 

Letter of a 
Christian 
from Lyons, 
Eusebius, 



Perseattions 



265 



turbance, the authorities began to torture them and to 
throw them to the beasts in the amphitheatre for the 
amusement of the spectators. By this means many per- 
ished. One of the number, Blandina, a slave, who took 
the p*art of mother to her fellow-sufferers, is now revered 
in Lyons as a saint. In other places similar scenes were 




Roman Baths 

(Nimes, France.) 

enacted. So far from helping the empire, however, or its 
decaying gods, persecution strengthened the new faith and 
made it more aggressive. 



Sources 

For this and the remaining chapters fewer sources are accessible Reading, 
to the English reader. Dio Cassius Ixviii-lxxi (German translation) ; 
Historia Augusta by various writers (lives of the emperors beginning 
with Hadrian ; valuable ; easily read in the original) ; Pliny, Letters 



266 Limited Monarchy 

(for social and intellectual life, and for provincial administration) ; 
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations ; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, i-v. 
Cf. Botsford, Story of Rome, ch, xi ; Fling, Studies in European His- 
tory, i. pp. 126-144 (selections from Pliny's Letters) ; Translations and 
Reprints from the Original Sources of European History (University 
of Pennsylvania), IV. i: Early Christian Persecutions. For the con- 
temporary M-riters of this age, see p. 221 ff. 

Modern "Works 

Gibbon, Decline and Eall of the Roman Empire, chs. i-iii ; Duruy, 
History of Rome (V, VI), chs. Ixxix-lxxxvii ; Merivale, History of the 
Romans, VII. chs. Ixiii— Ixviii ; Bury, Studenfs Roman Empire, chs. 
xxiii-xxxi ; Capes, Age of the Antonines (epochs) ; Finlay, History of 
Greece, I. ch. i ; Mahaffy, Greek World under Roman Sway, chs. xiii, 
xiv ; Gregorovius, Emperor Hadrian; Bryant, Reign of Antoni7ius 
Pius; Myers, Classical Essays : Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ; Watson, 
JMarcus Aurelius Antoninus ; Arnold, Ro?7ia7i Provincial Administra- 
tion, p. 140 ff. ; Mommsen, Provinces of the Roman Empire (consult 
Index) ; Pelham, Imperial Domains ; Boissier, Rovian Africa^ chs. 
iii-vii; Allen, Christian History, first period, ch. iv; Fisher, Beginnings 
of Christianity ; History of the Christian Church; Yisxdx, Christianity 
and the Roman Governfuent ; Hatch, Organization of the Early Chris- 
tian Churches ; Kurtz, Church History, i; Moeller, History of the Chris- 
tian Church, i; Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D. 
jyo ; Lecky, History of European Morals, chs. ii, iii; Mackail, Latin 
Literature, bk. Ill ; Cruttwell, History of Roman Literature, bk. III. 
chs. vii-ix ; Simcox, Lati?t Literature, II. pts. v-vii. 




.The Triumphal Arch of Sekiimils Se\erls 



CHAPTER XII 

THE GROWTH OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY 

(180-337 A.D.) 

From Commodus to Constantine 

It was- a misfortune to the empire that Marcus Aurelius commodus, 
had an unworthy son, especially as this excellent emperor, 180-192 a. n. 
in nominating a successor, lacked the strength to pass 
beyond his own family in favor of some capable person. 
Under good rulers, the empire might long have continued 
prosperous; as matters stood, the decline began with Com- 
modus, son of Aurelius. He was a weak-minded young 

267 



268 



Growth of Absolute Monarchy 



Pertinax, 
193 A.D. 



man, easily misled by vile companions. The enjoyment 
of power made him vain, brutish, and cruel. While he 
pursued base pleasures and fought wild beasts in the 
amphitheatre, the empire fell into disorder. The soldiers 
lost discipline along with their respect for their ruler; and 
many deserted to find a livelihood in robbery. The 
provinces were misgoverned, and the capital was at the 
mercy of the pretorians, who were no longer under con- 
trol. After twelve years of such government, at once weak 
and savage, Commodus was strangled by a young athlete 
set upon him by Marcia, the emperor's concubine, who 
headed a conspiracy. 

His successor was Pertinax, who had already proved his 
ability as a commander, and who now applied himself with 
great energy and success to the restoration of order. He 
had ruled scarcely three months, however, when the pre- 
torians revolted against his severe discipline and murdered 
him. Thereupon they offered the purple robe to the highest 
bidder. Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, bought it by 
a promise to pay each of them a sum equivalent to about 
twelve hundred and fifty dollars. At the same time he 
assured them they should have all the license they had 
enjoyed under Commodus. When news of these disgrace- 
ful proceedings reached the troops on the frontier, it made 
them indignant. The armies in Syria, on the Danube, and 
in Britain nominated their own commanders to the office 
of emperor, and each prepared to enforce its will by arms. 
Septimius Severus, governor of Pannonia, who had the 
best army and was nearest Rome, won the prize. As he 
' approached the capital, his nomination was confirmed by 
the senate, which had already decreed the death of Julianus. 

Septimius Severus was the first emperor born in Africa, — a firm. 

Severus, ^ 

193-211 A.D. clear-headed man who knew well the needs of the empire. 



Julianus, 
193 A.D. 



SeptimiiLS Sevenis 



269 



The emperor 
and the army. 



First he banished the ungovernable pretorians from Rome, 

and made up a new guard of forty thousand troops selected, 

according to merit, from the armies. He then conquered 

and killed his two rivals, Niger, governor of Syria, and 

Albinus, of Britain. He humbled the Parthians, and near 

the end of his 

reign he fought 

in Britain against 

the Caledonians. 

The arch which 

CO mmemorates 

his victories still 

stands in the 

Forum. 

The greater 
part of his energy, 
however, he de- 
voted to improv- 
ing the adminis- 
tration and to 
increasing the 
strength of the 
empire. As his 
authority rested 
upon the armies, 
he didnot hesitate 

to slight the senate. Under him, therefore, this body 
lost much of the influence it had enjoyed in the pre- 
ceding period; in fact his reign marks an important 
step in the direction of absolute monarchy. The theory 
that the emperor was above the laws found expres- The jurists. 
sion and support in the teachings of the lawyers who 1'. 253. 
formed his council, Papinian, perhaps the ablest of 




SePTIMIUS SEVERU.S 
(Capitoline Museum, Rome.) 



2/0 



GrozvtJi of Absolute Monarchy 



P. 253- 



Equalization 
of rights. 



Caracalla, 

2II-217 A.D. 



Macrinus, 
217-218 A.I'. 

Bassianus — 
•Elagaba- 
lus,"" 218- 

222 A.D. 



Roman jurists, lived at this time, and held the office of 
pretorian prefect. It has been said of him that his love 
of justice equalled his knowledge of it; and in the follow- 
ing reign he sacrificed his life for the sake of right. 
Ulpian, a younger contemporary, was scarcely less emi- 
nent. Through them and their associates, Roman law 
reached the height of development; later jurists did little 
more than systematize the material already existing. 

The legislation of the great jurists affected the whole 
empire; for even before the death of Severus most of the 
provincials were Roman citizens under the protection of 
Roman law. As this emperor had no reverence for the 
senate or for republican traditions, he aimed to place the 
provinces on a level with Italy. His son and successor, 
Caracalla, completed the development of ages by an edict 
which made all the freemen of the empire Romans.-' 
Unfortunately citizenship was now becoming a burden. 
Severus had increased the number and the pay of the 
troops, and his son was a heedless spendthrift. ]\Iilitary 
service and special taxes on citizens had therefore grown 
oppressive; and those whom Caracalla made Romans had 
to take upon themselves the burdens of citizenship in 
addition to those they had borne as subjects. Thus the 
benefit was offset by disadvantages. In fact the author of 
this reform cared only for his soldiers; toward all others 
he was recklessly brutal. At length Macrinus, a pretorian 
prefect, had him murdered, and reigned in his stead. 

Macrinus was soon overthrown in battle by Bassianus, 
who in turn became emperor. He was a cousin of Cara- 

^ Though all freemen were now citizens, certain distinctions of 
privilege remained; some communities enjoyed Roman rights without 
limitation, others Latin rights, and still others Italian rights. But this 
classihcation is no longer important. 



Alexander Severus 271 

calla, and though a mere boy, was priest of Elagabalus, a 
Syrian sun-god notorious for his unclean worship. This 
ruler is known by the name of his deity, whom he took 
to the capital and magnified above all other gods. The 
impurity of his rites shocked even Rome. While his 
grandmother ruled for him, he indulged in his sensual 
worship for four years, when the soldiers of the guard 
killed him in a mutiny. 

His cousin and successor, Alexander Severus, was an Alexander 

amiable youth, mentally gifted and of excellent moral ^^^^^^^ 

-^ ' ■' ® 222-235 A.u. 

character. But it was unfortunate that at a time when the 
duties of the imperial office called loudly for a man of 
energy and iron, the prince should be merely a good- 
natured dreamer. As he was but fourteen on his acces- 
sion, the government rested with his mother, who in turn 
was assisted by the jurist Ulpian, prefect of the guard, 
and by a council of senators. Reversing the policy of 
Septimius and Caracalla, this administration looked to 
the senate to counteract the growing influence of the army. 
Not only in his respect for republican traditions, but also 
in his patronage of education, in his attention to the needs 
of the poor, and generally in his policy of mildness and 
justice, Alexander was a faint imitation of the good 
emperors. He was too weak, however, to maintain disci- 
pline among the soldiers or to defend the empire. 

In his reign a new danger to the Roman world arose in The new Per- 
the East. Nearly four centuries before his time, the sian empire, 
empire of the Parthians had succeeded that of the Seleu- P. 120. 
cidae. It extended from the Euphrates to India, and 
before Trajan's invasion it had rivalled Rome in power. 
From that date, however, it began to decline; the ruling p. 246. 
dynasty of the Arsacidse tried in vain to hold the multitude 
of subject liations together. The Persians, who were the 



272 GrowtJi of Absolute Mo7iairhy 

most vigorous of these tributary races, asserted their inde- 
pendence, and, in 227 a.d., Artaxerxes, their king, the 
founder of the dynasty of the Sassanidae, overthrew the Par- 
thian monarch and made the empire Persian. An official 
change of religion followed this political event. The 
Arsacidae had introduced Greek civilization and even the 
Greek gods into their empire. The native religion of 
the Persians, on the other hand, as taught by their ancient 
prophet Zoroaster, was a dualism, — the worship of 
Ormazd, the spirit of Good and of Light, against whom 
the dark and evil i\hriman forever warred. The believer 
hoped that in the end the Good Spirit would triumph, and 
would reward his worshippers according to their merits. 
In its best form this religion approached nearly to a 
monotheism, whose zealous priests, the magians, could 
tolerate neither Christianity nor idols. Supported by 
Artaxerxes, the eighty thousand or more magians under- 
took to suppress every other form of worship in the empire. 
Their religious fervor strengthened the monarch and made 
him aggressive in the interest of his god. At the same 
■ time his talent for organization gave him a military 
power which the Arsacidae had not commanded for 
generations. 
War between As the successor of the great Cyrus, who had founded the 
earlier Persian empire, Artaxerxes claimed all Asia, and 
ordered Alexander Severus to confine his authority to 
Europe. This demand led to a war, in which the Romans 
seem to have been disgracefully beaten. Though the Per- 
sian king failed to enforce his extravagant claim, his 
empire continued thereafter to menace Rome; it com- 
pelled her to weaken the northern defences in order to 
mass troops on the Euphrates, at a time when the Germanic 
races were threatening invasion. • 



Rome and 
Persia. 



Drifting into AnarcJiy 



273 



After his conflict with Persia, Alexander went to war Death of 

A 1 ^ "5r 3 Tl d ^ T* 

against the Germans on the Rhine; but before he could gevems 

accomplish anything there, he was murdered by his sol- 235 a.d. 
diers. The imperial guard had already killed Ulpian, 
their prefect, and had terrorized the government as well 
as the residents of Rome. Thus a reign, in some respects 




^^T^T^^m^w^^m^m^^:^^^:. 



Sarcophagus of Alexander Severus and his Mother 

(Capitoline Museum, Rome.) 

happy, ended in failure, — a pleasant twilight before a 
period of gloom. 

During the half century which followed the death of Drifting into 
Alexander, the government suffered continual violence, as 
emperors rapidly rose and fell. Sometimes two colleagues 
shared in harmony the imperial ofhce; more frequently 
rivals for the throne involved the empire in civil war; 
rarely did a wearer of the purple die a natural death. 
About the middle of this period of confusion the empire 260 a.d. 

T 



anarchy, 
235-284 A.D. 



274 



Groivth of Absolute Moiiarchy 



268 A.D. 



Inroads of the 
barbarians. 
251 A.D. 



260 A.D. 



268-270 A.D. 



Aurelian, 

270-275 A.D. 



seemed to be falling into fragments; each army nominated 
its commander to the highest office, and these rival pre- 
tenders, wrongly numbered and misnamed the "Thirty 
Tyrants," brought the Roman world to anarchy. 

While civil war wasted the empire and drew the armies 
from the frontier, the enemies of Rome met with their first 
real success in assailing her. On the north the Goths, a 
Germanic race, after plundering Moesia and Macedonia, 
defeated and killed the emperor Decius. At nearly the 
same time their western kinsmen, the Franks on the lower 
Rhine, pushed across the boundary, between the Roman 
garrisons, and desolated Gaul. Soon afterward King Sapor, 
the energetic son of Artaxerxes, took the emperor Valerian 
captive. The civilized world seemed defenceless. The 
Alemanni, of Germanic race, flung themselves upon north- 
ern Italy, and in combination with them a vast horde of 
Goths, including women and children, crossed the Dan- 
ube to seek homes within the provinces. Fortunately at 
this crisis Rome found an able ruler in Marcus Aurelius 
Claudius, who drove back the Alemanni, and destroyed 
the invading host of Goths. 

His successor, Aurelian, the most competent emperor 
since Septimius Severus, withdrew the last garrisons from 
Dacia, — which he gave over to the Goths, — and brought 
the boundary once more to the Danube. This was the 
first territory lost to the empire. He then destroyed an 
army of the Alemanni, who had again invaded Italy. As the 
barbarians thus began to threaten the capital itself, he 
surrounded it with a wall, which is still standing, — a 
magnificent work, yet a monument of the weakness and 
decay of Rome. Two great fragments had recently broken 
from the empire : in the East, Queen Zenobia, from her 
splendid court in Palmyra, ruled Syria, Egypt, and a large 



All re Han 



275 



part of Asia Minor; in the West, the senator Tetricus was 
emperor of Gaul, Britain, and northern Spain. By con- 
quering both these pretenders, however, Aurelian restored 274 a.d. 
the unity of the empire. 

He showed equal energy in administration. Simple and a despot of 
frugal in his personal habits, in public he appeared like an ^ 
Oriental despot, surrounded with grand ceremony and 



the Oriental 




The Wall of Aurelian 



requiring his subjects to worship him, — a " Lord and 
God " who brooked no interference from his senate. But 
before he could reform the government according to these 
new ideas, his life was cut short by an assassin. The army 
and the people honored him after his death as one who 
had been a worthy ruler. His great achievement was the 
restoration of the empire to a condition which enabled it 
to endure through successive reigns, till Diocletian, a still 
abler man, put on the purple robe. 



284 A.D. 



2/6 GrozvtJi of Absolute Monarchy 

A century of More than a century had intervened between the death 

revo u ion, ^^ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and the accession of Dio- 
180-284 ^•^• 

cletian, — a period of weakness in the defence of the 

empire, of internal violence and anarchy. Let us now 

summarize the causes, the character, and the results of 

this long revolution. 

The causes of The happiness of the Roman world under the good 

^^Qj^ emperors was chiefly due to the wisdom of a line of rulers 

who were able to secure the good will of the senate and of 
the populace of Rome, the subordination of the pretorians 
and of the army, and the respect of surrounding nations. 
A system, however, in which so much depends upon the 
accidental succession of able rulers cannot be lasting. No 
sooner had the weak Commodus come to the throne than 
the forces of destruction began to appear. While the 
interior provinces, enfeebled by centuries of peace, pas- 
sively bore the burdens of taxation and permitted inter- 
ference with the liberties of their towns, the populace of 

P. 156. Rome, since Gains Gracchus, had not ceased to be revolu- 

tionary. When scantily supplied with amusement and 
food, it threatened the government and the peace of the 
world. The interests of the senate, which was still influ- 
ential, often clashed with those of the monarch or the 
soldiers. The pretorians, too, established as a guard of 
the emperor's person, were ready to kill him in order to 
secure a gift from his successor. The armies on the fron- 
tier, recruited chiefly from the border provinces, contained 
nearly all that was left of the discipline and the virtue of 
the Roman world. After nominating the emperors Galba, 

p. 231 ff. Vitellius, and Vespasian, they had forgotten their political 
power till they learned it anew from the insolent guards of 
Commodus. Not least among the causes of alarm were the 
waves of barbarians dashing at intervals over the borders; 



The Revolution 



277 



against this storm Rome itself, in situation as well as in 
the character and the traditions of the inhabitants, was ill 
suited to serve as a centre of resistance. 

The weakness and brutality of Commodus precipitated The character 
the revolution. The pretorians not only trampled upon therevolu- 
the senate and the residents of the capital, but also asserted ^ion. 
a right to make and to unmake emperors. Then the * 




A Capital from one of the Temples in Palmyra 

(Temple ruins in the background.) 

armies, jealous of the pampered guard, fought against it, 
against the senate, and against one another. This civil 
war, after rendering the pretorians helpless and depriving 
the senate of its last remnant of authority, decided that 
the sovereign should be a general, the choice of the soldiers 
who protected the empire. Though this result was in some 
measure good, the rival claimants for the ofifice, by their 
civil strife, threatened to break up the Roman world into 



2/8 



GrozvtJi of Absolute MonarcJiy 



Diocletian 
secures the 
results. 



His plan of 
administra- 
tion. 



a multitude of warring states. To prevent such a disaster, 
it was necessary to strengthen the imperial office. As the 
task of government seemed too great for a single ruler, 
more than one sovereign in this period tried the experi- 
ment of sharing his duties and his honors with a colleague. 
Again, as the collapse of old institutions and of the old 
nobility exposed the emperor more than ever before to the 
knives of assassins and to the pikes of mutinous soldiers, 
he sought new safeguards for his person and his authority. 
He put on a crown and a silken robe which sparkled with 
jewels and gold; he claimed to be a god, and compelled 
his subjects to prostrate themselves before him, thus plac- 
ing his authority on the basis of divine right; and he sur- 
rounded the throne with the circles of a new nobility of 
various grades, each attended by its appropriate degree of 
pomp and ceremony. Finally Rome ceased to be the 
capital in all but name, as the soldier-emperor > took up 
their abode at the posts of danger, and issued their decrees 
from the provincial cities. 

It was the work of Diocletian to discover the trend of 
the revolution and to embody its results in institutions, 
most of which remained permanent. A freedman's son and 
a soldier by profession, he made his way to the imperial 
office by genius and force of will. As emperor he devoted 
twenty-one laborious years to the discharge of his high 
trust. Amid conflicting political forces as amid the dan- 
gers of war, he continued calm and dignified, while his 
masterful intellect commanded obedience and respect. 

He first chose as colleague Maximian, a rough but able 
soldier. Although each emperor bore the title Augustus, 
Diocletian remained superior. They divided the Roman 
world between them, Diocletian taking the East and his 
colleague the West. Later two Caesars, Galerius and Con- 



Diocletian 



279 



stantius Chlorus, were appointed as heirs of the Augusti. 
Each of the Caesars received likewise the administration 
of a definite territory. Retaining the extreme East for 
himself, Diocletian gave Galerius the provinces on and 
near the Danubian boundary; Maximian governed Italy, 
Africa, and Spain; and Constantius, Gaul and Britain. 
Thus the most dangerous and laborious posts were assigned 




Temple of the Sun 

(Baalbec, Syria.) 



to the Caesars. Each of the four rulers chose a convenient 
city for his capital and appointed a pretorian prefect to 
aid him in administering the civil affairs of his district, 
which was named therefore a prefecture. They divided 
the four great prefectures into twelve dioceses, which they 
placed under vicegerents — vicarii. The dioceses con- 
sisted each of several small provinces, of which there were 
now more than a hundred in all. The provinces were gov- 



28o • Growth of Absolute MonarcJiy 

erned, according to their importance, by proconsuls, by 
co'rectores, or by presidents, who in turn commanded the 
service of a host of lower officials. As a rule the pro- 
vincial governors obeyed the vicegerents, who received 
their orders from the prefects, each of whom, in turn, was 
under a Caesar or an Augustus. Military and civil duties 
were now distinct. Corresponding with the civil offices 
just mentioned were masters of troops, dukes, counts, and 
lesser military officials. The nobles who filled the higher 
civil and military positions were the Honorable, the Re- 
spectable, and the Illustrious.-^ Above the Illustrious was 
the rank of Caesar, and, highest of all, Augustus was 
Most Sacred Lord. This system finally equalized the 
empire. As Rome ceased to be the capital, the senate 
became essentially a city council, and Italy was divided 
into provinces. The new organization of the Roman 
government and society here outlined was mainly the 
work of Diocletian, though it began before him and 
received additional touches later from Constantine the 
Great. 
Troubles foi- The empire was enjoying peace and good order in 
lowhisreign, A.D., when Diocletian resisfned his authority and 

305-323 A.D. ^ ^ ' to J 

compelled jNIaximian, his colleague, to do the same. 
Thereupon the two Caesars became Augusti, and new 
Caesars were appointed to take the place of the old. 
Immediately Diocletian's system, in most respects admi- 
rable, proved defective in the provision for the succession. 
It appeared, too, that the senior Augustus lacked the means 
of holding his colleague and the Caesars to their respec- 
tive duties. These high magistrates, together with other 
aspirants for power who arose from time to time, involved 

1 Clarissi/ni, Clarissiini et Spectabiles^ Clarissimi ct Inlustres, 




THE ROMAN EMPIRE 
DIOCLETIAN and CONSTANTINE 

SCALE OF MILES 



Eor Chapters XII. SHI 




Lonrinide Ea5t from Greer 



Constantine 281 

the Roman world in civil wars, till Constantine, known to Constantine 
history as the Great, the son of Constantius Chlorus, ^^^ '^^f''^' 

■' 312 and 313 

became emperor of the West and Licinius of the East. a.d. 
Though Constantine gavje his sister in marriage to Licinius, 
he afterward fought against him, took him captive, and put 
him to death. Thus, in 323 a.d., the empire was reunited 
under Constantine as sole monarch. His reign was marked 
by two important events, — the public recognition of Chris- 
tianity and the selection of Byzantium as the capital of the 
empire. 

Notwithstanding all opposition the Church had grown Growth of 
rapidly since Marcus Aurelius. The last and severest Q^y^^.^^-^ ^ 
persecution began under Diocletian and was carried on p. 265. 
by Galerius, his successor in the East. When at length 303-311 a.d. 
Galerius saw that he could by no means destroy the Chris- 
tians or suppress their faith, he granted them toleration 311 a.d. 
and requested their prayers for his welfare. On the other 
hand Constantius Chlorus, empe'ror in the West, had fa- 
vored them from the beginning; and his policy was inher- 
ited by his son. Though the Christians still formed a 
small minority — possibly a twentieth — of the population, 
for two reasons they were remarkably strong : first, whereas 
the pagans were lukewarm in the interests of their gods 
and of their political leaders, the Christians were energetic 
and zealous; and second, they had a thorough organization, 
patterned after that of the State. 

In the beginning each congregation had been inde- Organization 
pendent. It had its officers : deacons who cared for the .- 

^ r.merton, 

poor; elders, or presbyters, who as the council of the introduction 
church looked after its interests; and an overseer, or ^^^'^^ '^'^ ^ 

Ages, p. 97. 

bishop, the chief of the presbyters. In course of time, as 
the church of a given city sent out branches to neighboring 
towns and rural districts, the bishop of the parent commu- 



282 



Growth of Absolute Monarchy 



Constantine 
is converted, 
and publicly 
recognizes 
Christianity. 



The council 
of Nicaea, 

325 A.D. 



nity came to have authority over a group of congregations. 
Again, among the bishops of the age of Constantine, some 
differences of rank and of influence were already appear- 
ing. Those of a province looked for guidance to the high- 
est religious officer of the provincial capital, who though 
essentially a bishop, was usually called a metropolitan. 
Above him in dignity were the patriarchs of such cities as 
Antioch and Alexandria, while the bishop of Rome was 
acquiring the greatest influence of all. In brief, the gov- 
ernment of the Church was becoming a monarchy. In 
another way, too, the Christian world was learning to act 
in unison. The religious officials of a province frequently 
met in council; and sometimes a gathering represented a 
much larger area. Thus the tendency to centralization was 
already strong in the Church. 

Constantine saw the advantage he might derive from the 
support of this powerful organization. Accordingly he and 
Licinius, in 313 a.d., issued their famous Edict of Milan, 
which granted toleration to all religions, without excep- 
tion, and raised Christianity to an equal footing with 
paganism. To keep the good will of the pagans, Con- 
stantine continued to support tlie worship of the ancient 
gods; at the same time he professed the new faith, and 
encouraged it rather than the old. Let us not imagine that 
his avowed conversion improved his character. He con- 
tinued to be what he had been, — a man without heart or 
scruple, more pagan perhaps than Christian, ready to serve 
himself by hypocrisy or bloodshed. Nevertheless, as a 
far-sighted statesman, he worked consistently for the best 
interests of the empire. 

In his time the Church was becoming more and more 
distracted by quarrels over points of belief. In spite of 
the fact that Jesus had taught no svi^tem of doctrine, the 



The CJiurcJi 283 

leaders of the Church, especially in the East, were attempt- 
ing to build up an intricate and subtle theology, patterned 
after the philosophic systems of the Greeks. As they had 
little basis for their views, they naturally differed on many 
points. The chief of all controversies was that between 
two Church officials of Egypt, — Athanasius and Arius, — ■ 
concerning the nature of Christ. Although both admitted » 

that He was the Son of God, Arius maintained that the 
Son had come into existence later than the Father and was 
by nature inferior to Him. On the other hand, Athanasius 
asserted absolute equality between the Son and the Father. 
In order to strengthen the Church by securing uniformity 
of belief on this as well as on other points, Constantine 
called a council of bishops from all parts of the world to 
meet at Nicasa, a city in northwestern Asia Minor, to settle 
the disputes and to decide upon a creed which all should 
accept. By adopting the view of Athanasius, the council 
made it orthodox, while that of his opponent became a 
heresy. The West readily accepted the Nicene Creed, as 
this decision is called; and in this manner it has come 
down to the Roman Catholic Church and to most of the 
Protestant denominations of to-day; but Arianism con- 
tinued widespread in the East. 

The council of Nicaea was the first gathering which pro- increased 

fessed to represent the entire Christian world. The insti- !^^^°?^?.^ 
^ the Church. 

tution of such a general council, to meet as occasion 
demanded, added greatly to the power of the Church in 
its contest with paganism, and exalted the clergy to a 
place no religious body had ever held before. 

Constantine took a step next in importance to the recog- constanti- 
nition of Christianity, when he chose as his residence the "°p^^- 
Greek city of Byzantium, henceforth named Constantinople 
after himself. It was admirably situated for commerce, 



284 



Gj'ozut/i of Absolute MonarcJiy 



and was much nearer than Rome to the frontiers of the 
Danube and the Euphrates, which especially needed 
defence. As the East and the West were drifting apart, 
it was of the utmost importance that each division should 
have a capital and a stable government. Partly as a result 
of this act of Constantine, the Eastern, or Byzantine branch 
of the empire continued nearly to the discovery of America, 
when it was overthrown by the Turks. Milan had in fact 
become the capital of the West, but Rome enjoyed the 




The Basilica of Constantine 



honor of a nominal headship, and the favor of the emperor 
in her public improvements. The triumphal arch of Con- 
stantine stands near the Colosseum, and the ruins of his 
great basilica may be seen on the north side of the Sacred 
P. 234. Way, between the Colosseum and the Forum. But Roman 

architecture had sadly declined; the ornaments of the arch 
just mentioned were stolen from that of Trajan. Rome had 
lost everything but her monuments and her memories of the 
past. The senate, the city plebs, and the traditions of the 
republic could not reach the monarch who sat in Oriental 



Constitutional Development 285 

state on his throne in Constantinople, and who neglected 
Jupiter for the worship of Jehovah and of Jesus. Yet 
Rome was to see better days. In her bishops she already 
had the earlier members of a succession of religious mon- 
archs, — the popes, — who were to become more powerful 
than the Caesars had been, and whose palaces and cathe- 
drals were to make the eternal city the most splendid in 
the world of to-day. 

In Constantine the long constitutional development of Summary of 
Rome reached its height. First petty kings had given way gtitutionai 
to an aristocratic, warlike republic, which extended its development 
power and became imperial. Then, when great person- 
alities like Pompey and Caesar began to overshadow the 
freedom of the ruling class, the senate saved for itself a 
share of power and a tradition of liberty by dividing its 
authority with the ablest citizen, who in time became a 
monarch by gradual usurpation. The relation between the 
monarch and the senate, though fairly adjusted under the 
good emperors, was disturbed by the hundred years of 
revolution, which ended in basing authority on divine 
right, on a hierarchy of officials, and on the power of the 
sword. This triple basis of Diocletian's system Constan- 
tine preserved and strengthened. He retained the pre- 
fectures and the dioceses, and still further increased the 
number of the provinces. Though temporarily restored, 
the empire declined after him, till it fell; but many of the 
ideas and administrative methods of Diocletian and Con- 
stantine passed as a legacy to the mediaeval and modern 
kingdoms and empires. 

While these two statesmen were making the government Economic 
more effective, they were adding to the causes of social and p^^^J' rr 
economic decay. We have seen'the beginnings of decline 
in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Long before him, in fact, 



286 Groii'tJi of Absolute Mojiarc/iy 

slavery had been destroying the free population: in his 
time the plague, and after him foreign and civil wars, 
continued to reduce the population, while the increasing 
burden of taxation made life every day more wretched. 
The wealth of the empire flowed to the East in exchange 
for useless luxuries; and in lack of gold and silver the 
coinage was debased. Then, too, the growing splendor of 
the imperial courts added to the burden. With their scant 
means, many found it impossible to support families; and 
even the slaves grew fewer. Under these circumstances 
most of the lower population, free and slave, became 
P. 262. hereditary serfs, — the coloni already mentioned, — bound 

to the soil and to the payment of fixed dues to their lords. 
Roman soci- But it was not only the poor who suffered. The muni- 

a caste°™^^ cipia had once enjoyed freedom in local affairs, each gov- 
system. erned by a senate, whose members, termed decuriones, were 

P. 249. the wealthier men of the community. Gradually the 

emperors had encroached upon the liberty of these cities, 
till they had converted even the privileges of the senators 
into intolerable burdens. For as these officials were 
responsible for the taxes due from their districts, many 
of them, unable to wring the required amount from the 
poorer classes, were themselves reduced to poverty. 
Nevertheless they could not leave their city without per- 
mission, or in any way shirk their duty, but were held for 
life by an iron hand to the unenviable work of collecting 
and of paying oppressive taxes. Artisans and traders, too, 
were bound strictly to their hereditary vocations, in order 
that the government might be sure of the dues to which 
they were subject. In brief, society had been forced into 
a rigid caste system, which crushed freedom, and made 
the life of rich and poo"r, bond and free, almost equally 
wretched. 



The Gei^mans and CJii^istianity 



287 



Under these conditions the people, especially of the The Germans 

,1 , . , . 1 1 r a^<i Chris- 

interior provinces, had grown unwarlike, incapable of tianity trans- 
defending themselves against the barbarians. For centu- ^°^"^ ^^® ^^' 

pire. 
lies they had been unused to arms; and now those whose 

spirits were still unbroken by toil suffered from the demor- Pp. 235,3465. 
alizing influence of their theatres and gladiatorial shows. 




The Triumphal Arch of Constantine 



The government therefore found it more and more neces- 
sary to make up the armies of Germans, who consequently P. 262. 
settled in the empire in ever increasing numbers. These 
people readily adopted those features of Roman life and 
civilization which were suited to their nature, but they 
were too independent to submit to the iron government or p. 295. 
to the equally rigid social system of Rome. Accordingly 
while the Germans who defended the Roman world were 



288 ■ GroiutJi of Absolute Monarchy 

acquiring much of its civilization, they, with the Chris- 
tians, were helping undermine the empire itself. And the 
wisest men could not know how soon even these German 
defences would fall before the barbarian tempest which was 
to sweep across the border. 

Reading 

Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. VI. ch. ii ; bk. VII. ch. i ; 
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Rojuan Empire, chs. iv-xviii ; Duniy, 
History of Rome (VI-VIII). chs. Ixxxviii-civ ; Freeman, Historical 
Essays, iii : Illyrian Emperors ; Mommsen, Provinces of the Romaji 
Empire (consult Index) ; Mason, Persecution of Diocletian ; Wood, 
Ruins of Pahnyra and Baalbec ; Ware, Zenobia ; Aurelian (novels). 

Church History 

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, v-x ; Allard, Le Christianistne et 
r E7npire Roi)iai7i de Aeron e Theodose ; Les dernieres Persecutions du 
troisihyie Siecle ; Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, lects. ii-vi ; 
Farrar, Early Days of Christianity ; Fisher, Beginnings of Chris- 
tianity ; History of the Christian Church; Fulton (editor), 7V« 
Epochs in Church History ; Gefifcken, Church and State; Hatch, 
Organization of the Early Christian Churches; Kurtz, Church His- 
tory^ 3 vols. ; Milman, History of Christianity, 3 vols.; Latin Chris- 
tianity, 8 vols. ; Moeller, History of the Christian Church, 2 vols. ; 
Morrison, The Jews under Roman Rule (Nations) ; Xeander, History 
of the Christiaji Religion and Church, 5 vols. ; Renan, Influence of the 
histitutions. Thought, and Culture of Rome on Christianity and the 
Development of the Catholic Church ; Robertson, History of the Chris- 
tian Church, 8 vols.; Uhlhorn, Conflict of Christiatiity with Heathen- 
is?n; Boissier, La Fin du Paganisme ; Alzog, Manual of Universal 
Church History, 




The Roman Forum 

(In the immediate foregiound is the Temple of Vespasian ; beyond the road on the 
left is the Arch of Septimius Severus ; on the right the Temple of Saturn, beyond which 
is the Basilic^ Julia, and still farther the three columns of the Temple of Castor and 
Pollux; above the latter are trees growing on the Palatine Mount. Near the Temple 
of Castor and Pollux is the foundation of the Temple of Vesta, and farther, on the 
top of the ridge, we can see the Arch of Titus.) 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE INVASIONS OF THE BARBARIANS AND THE FALL 
OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST 



(337-476 A.D.) 



" A foreign foe, alas ! shall tread the City's ashes down, 
And his horse's ringing hoofs shall smite her places of renown, 
And the bones of great Quirinus, now religiously enshrined, 
Shall be flung by sacrilegious hands to the sunshine and the wind." 

Horace, Epodes, 16. 

Constantine 
CoNSTANTiNE was followed by his three sons, who inher- 11, Constan- 

ited the bad traits of their father without his ability. First J,'"^'/"*^ 

-' Constans, 

they treacherously massacred nearly all their kinsmen to 337 a.d. 
u 289 



290 



Barbarian Invasions 



Eutropius 
X. 10. 
P. 274. 



Julian " the 
Apostate." 

357 A.D. 
Ammianus 
xvi. 12. 



361 A.t). 

Gardner, 
Julian. 



363-476 A.D. 
Valentinian, 

364-375 A.D. 
Pp. 262, 287. 



rid themselves of possible rivals. Afterward Constans, the 
youngest, was killed by his brother Constantine, who in 
turn was slain by a usurper; so that of the three brothers 
Constantius alone survived. "He suffered many grievous 
calamities at the hands of the Persians; his towns were 
taken, his walled cities besieged, and his troops cut off." 
At the same time the Franks and the Alemanni from Ger- 
many were storming cities and spreading devastation 
through Gaul. The emperor's cousin Julian, leaving his 
philosophic studies in Athens, took command in this 
wretched province, and routed the Alemanni in a great 
battle at Strassburg. He drove the barbarians from Gaul 
and strengthened the frontier defences. The philosopher, 
who thus proved his ability to rule, became sole emperor 
on the death of his cousin. Disgusted with the character 
of his Christian kinsmen, he became a pagan, and labored 
to suppress Christianity. Wisely, however, he refrained 
from persecution; but his mild efforts to irestore the gods 
of the old world naturally failed. He was still a young 
man when, after a brilliant campaign against the Persians, 
he was killed by an arrow of the enemy. In him the 
empire lost an able ruler and defender. 

Soon after his death the barbarians began to break 
through the frontier and to settle permanently within the 
empire. Before taking up the story of these invasions, 
however, we shall notice briefly the more important rulers 
of the century between Julian and the dissolution of the 
empire in the West. 

In the year after Julian's death, the army made Valen- 
tinian emperor. Ferocious in temper, yet strong and just, 
he was well adapted to command the imperial troops, most 
of whom were now barbarians. Through the eleven years 
of his reign he maintained the hard-pressed frontiers of 



Theodositis 29 1 

Britain and Gaul, and even crossed the Rhine to chastise 
the Alemanni in their own country. His weak brother Vaiens, 
Valens, however, to whom he had given the East, allowed 
a great host of Goths to cross the Danube and to settle 364-378 a.d. 
within the empire. They even defeated and killed him. P. 297 f. 
"v:fThe Eastern and Western branches of the empire continued 
under separate governments till Theodosius the Great 
united them for a brief season. This ruler distinguished 
himself, too, by making Christianity the sole religion of Theodosius, 
the State. When he ordered the pagan temples closed, 379-395; sole 

emperor 

those who carried out his edict destroyed many of the 394-395 a.d. 
buildings and broke the images. Though the pagans were P. 298. 
forbidden to worship their gods, some quietly persisted in 
their illegal devotion for at least a century longer, Theo- 
dosius was equally zealous for uniformity of Christian 
faith. By persecuting the Arians and other heretical sects ,p. 283. 
he hoped to establish the Nicene Creed throughout the 
East. Under him orthodox Christianity thus became intol- 
erant of all other faiths. It was chiefly this theological 
zeal which earned for him the title of "the Great." 

At his death the empire was again divided ; Arcadius, The empire 
one of his sons, received as his portion the East,^ and ^^'^^*^^^' 

395 A.D. 

Honorius, the other, was given the West. Though the Rm.y_ j^atcr 

Roman Eni- 
1 In the reign of Arcadius, John, whose eloquence won for him the sur- pi^g^ \ p_ 51 

name Chrysostom — golden-mouthed — became patriarch of Constanti- ff. 
nople. He had forsaken the profession of law for a life of solitary 
devotion. After some years, however, he left his mountain cave to preach 
in Antioch. When the fame of his wonderful oratory reached thj 
Christians of Constantinople, they forced him to come to their city. 
Installed as patriarch, he applied himself with great energy to the 
government of the Church. He compelled most of the religious 
officials of the Eastern empire to bow to his will; he persecuted here- 
tics; and he denounced the sins of Christians, without sparing the 
nobles or even the empress Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius. In revenge 
she plotted his ruin. By the decree of a Church council she drove 



292 



Bai'baj'ian hivasions 



p. 284. 



p. 302. 



Valentinian 

III, 423-455 
A.D. 

Ricimer 
governs, 

456-472 A.D. 



Orestes 
governs, 

475-476 A.D. 

Romulus 
(nicknamed 
Augustulus) 
475-476 A.D. 
P. 309. 



Eastern branch maintained itself thereafter for more than 
a thousand years, the Western gradually fell into the hands 
of the barbarians. At the same time the government of 
the West came more and more under their influence. 
It was significant of this changing condition that Galla 
Placidia, the beautiful, accomplished sister of Honorius, 
became the wife of Ataulf, a Gothic chief who had been 
ravaging Italy and who brought his bride rich gifts from 
the spoils of her people. Placidia afterward returned 
to Rome, where as regent for her young son Valentinian 
III she ruled the Western branch of the empire many years. 
Meantime barbarians were seizing provinces and Rome 
was growing weaker. Not long after the death of Valen- 
tinian III, Ricimer, an able, scheming German, gained 
control of the government; and while he kept the power 
in his own hands, he made and unmade emperors at 
pleasure. He called himself simply patrician, — a word 
Constantine the Great had been first to use as a lifelong 
title of high official rank. In Ricimer' s case it meant a 
man who was at once commander of the army and chief 
minister of his sovereign. Three years after the death 
of the tyrant Ricimer, Orestes, an lUyrian, became patri- 
cian of Italy. Refusing the imperial title for himself, he 
permitted the soldiers to confer it on his young son Rom- 
ulus, whom they now called Augustulus — "little emperor." 
The boy ruled but a few months, however, when Odoacer, 
elected "king" by the Germans of the army, deposed 

him into exile; and when he returned to continue his denunciation 
of her vices, she again caused his banishment, this time to a desolate 
place on Mount Taurus. Some years after his death, which occurred 
in exile, the authorities of the Church, to atone for their mistreatment 
of the great preacher, brought his bones to Constantinople and canon- 
ized him as a saint. His sermons, still preserved, show a brilliant flow 
of language and a fervid zeal for religion and pure morals. 



T/ie Aryans 293 

him, and compelled the Senate to send the purple, with 

other imperial ornaments, to Constantinople, in token of 

the reunion of the empire under one head. As governor 

of Italy subject in name to the sole remaining emperor, 

Odoacer contented himself with the title of patrician. 

The date of the deposition of Romulus — 476 a.d. — End of the 

better perhaps than any other marks the "fall" of the empire in the 
^ ^ ■' West,476A.D. 

empire in the West and the transition from ancient to Oman.^^r^- 

mediaeval history. For although the idea of the empire P^(^^ History, 

ch. i. 
and of the sovereignty of the ruler in Constantinople 

survived, as a matter of fact the Germans henceforth 
controlled all the West, and were working out in their 
own way the destiny of Europe. In turning from the 
Romans to the Germans, we pass from ancient to medi- 
aeval history. 

The Germans, with the Greeks, the Italians, the Celts, 
and the Slavs, belong to the European branch or group of 
races of Aryan speech. From the early Aryan home. The Aryans, 
probably north of the Black and Caspian seas, those who " ' 
were to give the mother-tongue to Greece and Italy 
had migrated to the peninsulas in which we find them 
at the dawn of history. There they settled, built cities, 
and became civilized. The other races just named con- 
tinued to wander about more or less, and long remained 
barbarian. They were naturally as capable as the Italians, 
or possibly even as the Greeks; but in their home in cen- 
tral Europe they had fewer means of learning the customs 
and the arts of settled life. The Celts moved westward and 
occupied chiefly Gaul, Britain, and a part of Spain, where Pp. 126, 177, 
in time, as we have seen, they were conquered and civil- ^^^' ^59- 
ized by the Romans. After the Celts came the Germans, The Germans, 
who were to give the Romans much trouble. The Ger- ,f '"^'. 
mania of Tacitus, composed about 100 a.d., describes 



294 



Barbarian Invasions 



p. 256. their life at that early time, before they came under the 

influence of Christianity and of Rome. 

The country Travelling through their country in the age of Tacitus, 

people *^^^ would find no vineyards or orchards, no cities or 

Tacitus, Ger- pleasant couutry houses, but here and there in the midst 

mama, 5 . ^^ swamps and forests one would see groups of miserable 

hovels, some herds of stunted cattle, and a few patches of 

cultivated ground. In peace the warriors sleep and eat, 

drink and game, while the women, old men, and slaves do 




A German Village 



Caesar, Gal- 
lic Wars, vi, 
21 ; Tacitus, 
Germania, 

17- 

Morals and 
religion. 
Tacitus, Ger- 
mania, 18. 



all the work. The children are naked; the men and 
women alike cover the body with a skin or coarse cloth, 
leaving the limbs bare; only in the richer class men wear 
trousers and women linen. 

Other features of their life are far more attractive. They 
possess many of the virtues which the Romans have lost. 
The morals of marriage and of the family are pure; they 
respect women more than the Greeks or the Romans ever 



TJie Germans 2C)^ 

did; and their sense of personal dignity will not permit 
them, like the Spartans and the early Romans, to yield 
their liberty to the iron discipline of the state — to make 
themselves an unthinking part of a social machine. It is 
the purity of the German family and the free, dignified 
spirit of the German man, afterward directed by Christian 
principles, which have made the modern world better than 
the ancient. As yet they have not learned of Christ, but 
worship the powers of nature, — of war, peace, and joy, of 
the waters, woods, and seasons, of various living things and 
natural forces. Each in his own house calls upon the 
gods, and priests attend to the public worship in sacred 
groves; for they have neither images nor temples. 

Some tribes follow hereditary kings, others temporary Government, 
dukes elected to lead in war and on migrations. The '^^'^^^'^^- 

Germania, 

chief men of a tribe meet in a council to settle questions ^^ 11-13. 
of public interest. Important matters they refer to the 
gathering of all the warriors, who show their displeasure 
by a guttural murmur or clash their weapons in token of 
approval. This assembly elects chiefs, tries capital 
offences, and decides other important matters. It some- 
times happens that after voting for war, the host proceeds Army, 
forthwith to meet the enemy. The men of a family and 'r^^'*^^- ^'^''' 

mania, 14 ; 

the families of a clan stand side by side in the line of Atmals,\\.\^. 
battle, while each chieftain rides in the midst of his 
mounted companions, who are pledged to loyal service. 
The troops are not only ill organized but poorly armed. 
Although in the first terrific onset their huge frames may 
frighten the Romans, these fair, blue-eyed giants lack 
endurance and discipline; so that they readily yield to 
fear, hunger, or fatigue. Their life and institutions are 
like those of the Greeks in the time of Homer, or of the r *^, A 

' ford, Greece, 

Italians before the Samnite wars. As soon, however, as p. nff. 



296 



Barbarian htvasions 



They 

threaten the 
empire. 
Pp. 162, 185. 



P. 207 f. 



Sergeant, 
The Franks. 



274. 



they come into contact with the Romans, they begin to 
learn from them more refined habits and to desire more 
settled homes. This eagerness for homes is perhaps their 
chief motive in attacking the empire. 

We have seen how Gaius Marius destroyed the first great 
horde of Germans that tried to enter Italy, and how Julius 
Caesar frustrated a second attempt at invasion led by Ario- 
vistus. Under Augustus the Romans made a vain effort to 

subdue them ; but 
soon learned from 
the overthrow of 
Varus that the ques- 
tion of the future 
was to be how they 
should defend them- 
selves against these 
terrible enemies. 
After Augustus the 
Germans grew more 
and more powerful, 
chiefly by uniting 
their tribes in large 
federations. Such 
a union was that of 
the Franks, who, 
after Marcus Aure- 
lius, appeared on 
the lower Rhine, and 
the Alemanni — 
" Men of All Races " — on the upper. Farther east were 
the Goths, who are said to have once lived in Sweden. 
From the Baltic to the Black Sea they had journeyed, — 
great swarms of gigantic warriors, with their women and 




The Baptism of Christ 

On the right is John the Baptist, on the left the 
River-god Jordan, around are the Twelve Apostles. 

(Mosaic in the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, 
Ravenna, Fifth Century, a.d.) 



The Visigoths 297 

children, and their two-wheeled wagons. Thereafter they 270-275 a.d. 
kept harassing the eastern provinces by land and sea, till P. 274. 
Aurelian gave up Dacia to them. Those who now settled 
in this province, who are termed West-Goths, or Visigoths, 
acquired much of the Roman civilization, and accepted 
Arian Christianity from Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the 
Bible into their speech. Fragments of this work still exist, 
and are highly prized as specimens of the first piece of 
Germanic literature. 

For about a century the W-est-Goths lived quietly in The visi- 
Dacia as the allies of the Roman people. With the prog- ^^^ia^^ 
ress of settled life they became more and more distinct 270-376 a.d. 
from their less civilized kinsmen, the East-Goths — Ostro- 
goths — who lived north of the Black Sea, between Dacia 
and the Don River. Suddenly this peaceful life was dis- 
turbed by the appearance of the Huns, a dark, dwarfish 
race of savages, with little eyes and scarred, beardless 
faces. On horseback they swept the country like a tempest, 
plundering and destroying whatever they found and killing 
even the women and the children without pity. Those 
of their enemies whom they chose to spare became their 
slaves or subjects. They were not Aryans, but a distinctly 
Asiatic race, usually classed with the Turanians. Unlike Hodgkin, 
the Germans, they had no wish to settle in the conquered '''' ' 
lands, but were content with roving and remained savage. 
They conquered the East-Goths, and overthrew the West- 
Gothic king, who lived in Dacia. Thereupon two hundred 
thousand warriors of the defeated monarch, with their 
wives and children, gathered on the north bank of the 
Danube, and implored the Romans to let them cross for 
safety from their frightful pursuers. The weak-minded 
Valens, of whom we have already heard, granted their p. 291. 
petition on the understanding that they should surrender 



298 



Barbarian Invasiois 



They cross 
the Danube, 

376 A.D. 

Hodgkin, 
Italy, I. i. 
P- 254. 



378 A.U. 



Theodosius, 
379-395 A.D. 
Duruy, 
Rome, viii. 
p. 273 ff. 



Alaric, 

395 A.D. 
Bury, Later 
Roman Em- 
pire, p. 107 ff. 



their arms and give their children as hostages. These were 
needless, foolish conditions; for with their arms, they 
would, in grateful loyalty, have helped him defend the 
empire. 

"All day and night, for many days and nights, the 
Roman ships of war were crossing and recrossing the 
stream, conveying to the Moesian shore a multitude which 
they tried in vain to number." But while the Roman 
officers in charge of this work were intent upon robbing 
the Goths and kidnapping the most beautiful of their 
women, the warriors retained their arms, and passed into 
the empire, burning with rage at the insults and the wrongs 
they suffered from the depraved government of Constanti- 
nople. When famine and further mistreatment goaded 
them to rebellion, they spread murder and savage desola- 
tion over Thrace and Macedonia. Valens rashly assailed 
them at Hadrianople, and perished with two-thirds of his 
men. This was a grave misfortune, for it taught the 
invading barbarians that they might defeat Romans and 
slay emperors in open fight. For some time after the 
battle the Goths roamed about at pleasure, but could not 
take the fortified cities. From Theodosius, the successor 
of Valens, they received homes in Thrace, while those 
Ostrogoths who had followed them into the empire were 
settled in Phrygia. The barbarians became the allies of 
the Romans, and Theodosius remained their firm friend. 

Soon after his death, the Visigoths, needing more land 
and w^ealth, hoisted one of the most promising of their 
young nobles, named Alaric, upon a shield, as was their 
custom in electing a chieftain, and under his leadership, 
they ravaged Greece till the minister of Arcadius, now 
emperor of the East, bought the friendship of Alaric by 
making him governor of lUyricum. This gave the barba- 



Stilicho and 



StilicJio and Alaric 299 

rian chief official means of supplying his men with good 
arms; so that in a few years he was ready for a more 
important undertaking, — the invasion of Italy. He had 
some idea of the value of civilization; and apparently it 
was his wish to find the best country in which to settle his 
followers and organize a kingdom. We are to think of 
him, accordingly, not as a mere destroyer, but as the 
founder of the first Germanic state which was to be estab- 
lished within the limits of the empire. 

It is a remarkable fact that not only the common sol- 

•' Alaric. 

diers but even the best generals and ministers of the 
empire were now Germans. Such was Stilicho, a fair and 
stately Vandal, who had married a niece of Theodosius, 
and was at this time guardian and chief general of the 
worthless Honorius, emperor in the West. Stilicho and P. 291. 
Alaric were well matched. Both were born leaders of 
men; both were brave and energetic, with equal genius 
for war. But Stilicho had the advantage of Roman organ- 
ization. Hastily gathering troops from Britain, from 
Gaul, from various parts in the West, he defeated Alaric Battles of 

1 XI 1 1111- Pollentia and 

twice m northern Italy, and compelled him to return to verona 40^ 

Illyricum. This double victory would have honored the 403 a.d. 

name of Marius; and perhaps the victor deemed himself 

and his son more worthy of the throne than the puppet 

king who fed his chickens in Ravenna, his new capital. 

At all events, Stilicho had a jealous enemy who never 

ceased whispering in the ears of Honorius his tale, true or 

false, of the Vandal's plotting. The miserable emperor 

at length gave way, and ordered the death of the only man 

who was able to save the empire. The Roman legionaries 408 a.d. 

followed the example of their master by murdering the 

wives and the children of the Germans in the army. The 

enraged barbarians, thirty thousand strong, went off to 



300 



Barbarian Invasions 



Siege and 
sack of Rome. 



408 A.D. 

Gibbon, 
ch. xxxi. 



410 A.D. 



Effect of this 
event. 



the camp of Alaric, and besought him to take vejigeance 
by invading Italy. 

As the Gothic king knew well that Stilicho's death left 
the empire defenceless, Jie crossed the Alps and marched 
straight for Rome. For the first time since the days of 
Camillus the eternal cit}' was besieged by barbarians. 
Afflicted with famine and pestilence, the degenerate citi- 
zens bought Alaric oft by the payment of an enormous ran- 
som. In the following year he appeared again before the 
walls, this time demanding whole provinces for the settle- 
ment of his men. He did not himself aspire to the impe- 
rial purple, — that dress was still too majestic for him to 
wear; but he appointed an emperor of his own to displace 
the weakling at Ravenna. For himself, he wished merely 
to be an ally and a supporter of the throne. But his 
nominee proved to be an imbecile, who could do nothing 
for him. Accordingly his fierce Goths besieged Rome a 
third time, burst in by surprise, and sacked the city, which 
for eight hundred years had seen no enemy in her streets. 
They killed many citizens and plundered the dwellings; 
but as Christians they spared the churches and all who 
took refuge in them. 

The sack of Rome astonished mankind; for all had sup- 
posed the city inviolable, and in her fall they thought they 
saw the ruin of the law and order of the world. It dis- 
couraged the Christians throughout the empire, that so 
many holy shrines, so godly a city, should be profaned by 
those whom they misconceived as pagans. To console 
them, St. Augustine ^ wrote his City of God, to prove that 



1 St. Augustine, the most famous of the Christian Fathers, was born 
in Africa in 354 A.D. After many years of wavward life he joined the 
heretical sect of Manichaeans, and somewhat later accepted the ortho- 
dox Christian faith. Appointed bishop of Hippo, a city near Carthage, 



Death of Alaric 



301 



the community of the Most High would last forever, even 
though the greatest city of earth had fallen. 

As the Goths did not like to live in cities, they soon left Death of 
Rome, and wandered southward with their booty. They 
intended to cross to Africa; but while they were making 
ready for this, Alaric died — apparently from the fever- 



Alaric. 




The Good SHEriiERD 

(Mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Fifth Century a.d.) 



laden climate of southern Italy. To prepare a safe resting- 
place for the deceased king, his followers compelled some 
Italian captives to turn the Busento from its course and to 
dig a grave in the empty river-bed; then when the burial 

he devoted the rest of his life to speaking and writing in defence of 
orthodox Christianity against both heresy and paganism. By means 
of his voluminous works on theology he did much toward reducing the 
teachings of Christians to a consistent philosophic system. He died 
in Hippo in the seventy-sixth year of his age, while the \'andals were 
besieging that city; cf. p. 257. 



302 



Barbainan Invasions 



Founding of 
the Visi- 
gothic king- 
dom. 

Bury, Later 
Rotnan 
Rjnpire, 
i. p. 137 ff. 



The Vandals. 

Hodgkin, 

Italy, 

ii. p.. 209 ff. 

167-181 A.D. 



rites were over, and the river again flowed in its natural 
channel, they killed the prisoners who had done the work, 
that no native might discover their secret, so as to disturb 
the remains of their mighty chieftain. Thus Alaric, the 
founder of the first Gothic state, died, like Moses, before 
he could bring his people to their destined home. 

His brother-in-law, Ataulf, succeeded him. This man 
ha'd once wished to blot the Romans out of existence, and 
to substitute the Goths in their place; but as he saw his 
followers slow in adapting themselves to settled life, he 
recognized the value of Rome for order and civilization. 
Accordingly he became her champion; and taking with 
him the emperor's sister, whom he hoped to make his 
bride, he led his nation from Italy to Gaul and Spain. 
These countries had already been plundered by Vandals, 
Sueves, — whose name survives in the modern Swabia, — 
and Alans, whom the Goths had to subdue in order to 
found their new state. Here their wanderings ended. The 
country they occupied extended from the Loire in Gaul 
over most of Spain, with Toulouse for its capital. Their 
state lasted unimpaired till the Franks seized the Gallic 
part of it, about 500 a.d. In Spain they continued inde- 
pendent for two centuries longer, when the Saracens swept 
over them and destroyed their kingdom. 

The Visigoths are especially interesting as the "pioneers 
of the German invasion;" and for that reason we have 
dwelt at some length on their wanderings and on their 
relations with Rome. The movements of the other 
barbarian races we shall follow more rapidly. 

We first hear of the Vandals in the region of the Oder. 
Thence they moved southward, and with the Marcomanni, 
fought against Marcus Aurelius. When later they were 
worsted in battle by the Goths, and besought Constantine 



The Vmidals 303 

the Great for a home and protection, he settled them in About 335 
Pannonia. Here under the influence of Rome and of ' " 
Christianity in its Arian form, they, like the Goths in 
Dacia, made some progress in orderly life. But in the 
time of Stilicho and Alaric they abandoned their settle- 406 a. n. 
ments and wandered northwestward toward the Rhine, 
joining to themselves on the way the Germanic Sueves and 
the Alans, who are usually classed with the Turanians. As 
Stilicho had withdrawn the garrisons from the Rhine, to P. 299, 
use against Alaric, they crossed to Gaul and ravaged their 
way into Spain. Here, as we have seen, the Visigoths 
under Ataulf found them. The Sueves were gradually 
pressed by the newcomers into the northwestern corner 
of the peninsula, where they established a small kingdom. 
The other two races retired southward. 

Thus far the Vandals had been driven about from place Gaiseric 
to place, — their history had been an unbroken record of (^^"seric), 

^ ' ^ . , 428 A.l). 

defeats. Now, however, they found their hero-king in Hodgkin, 
Gaiseric, under whom they, too, were to appear as a con- -^^'^'f''- 

„ . . . . . ^ ^ ii. p. 228 f. 

quermg nation. Gaiseric is an interesting figure. In 
contrast with the majestic type of the Germanic leader, he 
was short and limping. But he had a cunning, nimble 
mind, which always hit upon the right expedient. Bold, 
grasping, and persistent, he never lost sight of his ends or 
of the intricate means which led to them. In addition to 
his desire to find lands for his men and a kingdom for 
himself, he sought to humble Rome, and as an Arian 
Christian, to destroy the orthodox church. 

The Vandal chief found his opportunity in a quarrel He invades 
between two Roman officers, Aetius and Boniface. At "^*' 

' 428 A.D. 

this time Galla Placidia was regent of the West. How- 
ever wise in intrusting her legions to the able generals 
just mentioned, she foolishly allowed Aetius to work upon 



304 



Barbarian Invasions 



Cf. p. 280. her feelings against his rival, Count Boniface, then com- 
mander in Africa. Ordered to Rome on a groundless 
suspicion of treason, the count turned for revenge to the 
Vandals, and invited them to invade his provinces. The 
barbarians accepted the offer; accordingly, as soon as 
Gaiseric became chief, he crossed to Africa with the rem- 




The Mausoleum of Galea Placidia, Ravenna 

(Originally the Church of S. Nazario e Celso, built by Placidia about 440; it con- 
tains her sarcophagus and that of Honorius.) 



nant of his nation, numbering perhaps eighty thousand 
persons, including women and children. In vain the 
penitent Boniface tried to send him back; Gaiseric was 
not the man to be swayed by Roman counts. To him 
Africa was a tempting prize. Its large, fertile estates 
worked by serfs had long supplied Rome with grain. The 
richest of its many cities was "happy Carthage," prosper- 



Sack of Rome 305 

ous now as before the Punic Wars. The Vandals desolated 
the fields and took the fortified places by siege or treachery. 
Meantime a treaty with Rome recognized their kingdom in 435 a.d. 
Africa, subject only to an annual tribute. How weak must 
have been the Roman army when so few invading bar- 
barians could seize the fairest provinces of the empire ! 

But Gaiseric's followers were not so peaceful as those of Vandalism. 
Alaric. No sooner had they gained the seaports than they 
built ships and took to piracy. Thus they harassed Italy 
and all the neighboring shores. "Whither shall we sail?" 
the pilot is said to have asked his chief at the beginning 
of one of these expeditions. "To the dwellings of those 
with whom God is angry," Gaiseric replied. From their 
piracy, but more perhaps from their pillage of the orthodox 
churches, wherever they found them, the word Vandal- 
ism, derived from the name of their race, has come to 
signify the aimless, wanton destruction of property. 

Deprived of her food supply by these pirates, Rome suf- The vandais 
T r r • 1 11 • sack Rome, 

fered from famine, and was soon to see the destroyers 111 ^ ^ 

her own streets. The emperor at this time was a certain 

Maximus, who had usurped the throne and had forced Gibbon, 

ch. xxxvi. 

Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor,^ to become his 
wife. She then requested Gaiseric to avenge her wrong 
by plundering Rome. The Vandals gladly accepted the 
invitation. For a fortnight they pillaged the city in a 
thoroughly business-like way, and stored in their vessels 
all the movable property they considered of sufficient 
value. Their leader, however, had promised the great 
Leo, then bishop of Rome, to refrain from bloodshed and 
from burning the houses; and he kept his word. Besides 
their shiploads of booty, the Vandals carried away many 
captives into servitude. The Roman and the barbarian 

1 Valentinian III. 



3o6 Barbarian Iitvasioits 

had exchanged roles : the conquerors were becoming the 

slaves, and barbarians from the city of Hannibal at last 

avenged the destruction of Carthage. 

TI12 end of For many years Gaiseric ruled successfully, and extended 

dom"^ *^^ ^^^ lordship over the neighboring islands. Though at his 

477 A.D. death the glory of his kingdom passed away, it maintained 

■ ^ ^' its independence for more than a half century longer, when 

it was annexed by the Eastern branch of the empire. 
The Burgun- Meantime the Burgundians, another Germanic race from 
dians ^^ country about the Baltic, made their way into Gaul, 

Middle Ages, where they founded a kingdom in the valley of the Rhone 
P* 39 ^' and Saone rivers. Sidonius, a writer of the fifth century 

Cf. Hodgkin, , 

jf^i A.D., speaks of the gormandizing sons of Burgundy who 

ii. p. 363- smear their yellow hair with rancid butter." Like other 
Germans, these greasy giants had a taste for poetry; from 
an earlier Norse myth, their bards elaborated the Nibelmig- 
enlied, an epic song of their national heroes. Their laws, 
too, are of interest for the light they throw on the relations 
between the barbarian invaders and the Romans. Though 
their kingdom soon fell under the Franks, the name has 
survived in the modern Burgundy. 
Aetius and The Franks had crossed the Rhine and had occupied a 

Theodonc. wide territory on the left bank of the river, extending 
from Mainz to the sea. Thus by the middle of the 
fifth century a.d. the Germans had come to possess much 
of the Western empire, — Africa, Spain, and parts of Gaul, 
p. 308. Nominally dependent on the emperor, their kingdoms 

were virtually free. Central Gaul was still held for Rome 
by an able governor, Aetius. He and Theodoric, king of 
the AVest-Goths, were enemies, as each tried to extend his 
territory at the expense of the other. But we shall now 
see them bring the Germans and the Romans into one army 
to repel the great enemy of civilization, — Attila the Hun. 



TJie Huns 307 

Since their victory over tlie Goths, the Huns had grown The Huns, 
formidable. It is said that Attila, their king, from his ^ 

° Bury, Later 

log-cabin capital in Hungary commanded the barbarians Roman 

of Europe and of Asia, and threatened Persia as well as ^"'/^^<^' 

i. p. 161 ff. 
the Roman Erripire. ''We see him short of stature, with tt ^ , • 

the small, bead-like eyes, and snub nose and swarthy skin //a/j/, ii. p. 41. 

of his Tartar ancestors, yet with a haughty step, and a 

fierce way of darting his glances hither and thither, as 

though he felt himself lord of all, and were perpetually 

asking of the bystanders, 'Who is he that shall deliver you 

out of my hand? ' " 

He attracted to himself men of many races, Germans, The battle of 

Slavs, and even Greeks, as well as his Turanian kinsmen. 

' ' 451 A.D. 

After desolating the provinces of the f^ast and terrorizing 
Constantinople, he brought the storm of his wrath upon 
Gaul. Wasted fields and ruined cities marked his path. 
At this trying time, the union of Germans and Romans in 
defence of their common country was a happy omen for 
the future of Europe. Theodoric and Aetius met Attila at 
some distance from Chalons, in one of the fiercest con- 
flicts known to history. The slaughter was vast. We are 
even told that the blood from the thousands of wounds 
swelled to a torrent the brook which flowed through the 
field of battle. Theodoric fell, but the Hun was routed. 
Had he gained the day, it might have taken years, possibly 
centuries, to redeem Europe from the desolation and the 
barbarism which he, as victor, would have spread over the 
continent. Such was the importance of this battle.^ 

Though Attila withdrew from Gaul, the next year he Attila in 
appeared in Italy on his errand of destruction. He visited ^^'.j 

1 Three years afterward Valentinian III, jealous of the fame of 
Aetius, invited the great commander into the imperial palace, and 
killed him there with his own hand; Ilodgkin, //a/j', ii. p. 195 ff. 



2,o8 Barbarian Invasions 

Gibbon, Aquileia with fire and sword. The miserable remnant of 

c.xxxv. ^j^^ population, joined by refugees from other ruined 
towns, fled to a cluster of islands along the Adriatic shore. 
In time their wretched settlement became the famous city 
of Venice, which was to help defend Europe" against Attila's 
kinsmen, the Turks. As the Huns threatened Rome, 
Bishop Leo came to their chief, and persuaded him to 
spare the city.^ Such at least is the story; and it is diffi- 
cult to see what else induced the savage to turn back without 
entering Rome. Attila died soon after his departure, and 
with his death the Hunnish empire broke into pieces. 
Why the We are now in a position to understand why the Western 

^Pf^^f^J^,^ branch of the empire "fell." Before the year 476 a.d., 

W voc 1611. 

the conventional date of this event, most of the provinces 
Gibbon, ch. had come into the hands of the barbarians, so that little 
xxxvi;Hodg. j^^j.g ^j^^^ j^^i ^^^ jgl^ under the direct rule of the 

km, Italy, \\. 

p. 532 ff; emperor. The native Italians no longer had the courage 
Seeley, qj- '^q material resources necessary for defending their 

Roman -r> i 

Imperialism country. Further, most of the emperors of the fifth cen- 

Lect. ii. tury A.D. were weaklings, like Honorius, little more than 

puppets of their German commander-in-chief, who made 
and deposed them at pleasure. Thence it came about that 

p. 292. the title "patrician," which the chief general bore, carried 

more weight with the foreign soldiers in the service than 
even that of emperor. Under these circumstances the cen- 
tral government contirmed as long as it did, only because 

P. 306. the Germanic kings within the empire needed it as a sup- 

port to their authority. Even thus, however, it could not 
survive. Although no barbarian people had yet, as a body, 
made their permanent home in Italy, a continual stream 
of foreigners poured in to recruit the army. Among these 

1 This was three years before Gaiseric's plunder of Rome, — which 
the same Leo tried to prevent, but could only soften. 




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The ''Fair' 309 

soldiers of fortune was Odoacer, of whom we have already P. 292. 
heard. He was a bold, clever man, whom the foreign 
troops respected. They clamored for a third of the land in 
Italy; and when the father of the young emperor Romulus 
refused their demand, they hoisted Odoacer on their shield, 
thus making him their king. 

How he then brought the line of Western emperors to a 
formal close has been explained. In fact their power had 
already declined so completely that no one living at the 
time saw in the event of 476 a.d. anything worthy of notice. 
No one supposed that any part of the empire had fallen. 
Indeed, the continuance of the emperors in the East satis- 
fied in some degree a want which Rome had left in the 
hearts of the barbarians as well as of her native citizens, — 
a longing for a central power which, in the midst of chaos, 
should stand for law and order throughout the world. Ac- 
cordingly most men even in the West, whatever their race 
or condition, thought of the Eastern emperor as their own. 
It is evident, therefore, that the term "fall" is somewhat 
misleading. In theory, the event of the year was the re- 
union of the East and West under one head; at the same 476 a.d. 
time it pointed to an accomplished fact, — the dissolution ^"^po^tance 

of the date. 

of the empire in the West. 

The happenings of 476 a.d. had this important result, 
that as Italy ceased to be the home of emperors, the bishop 
of Rome became the most respected and most influential 
person in the West, — the pope succeeded to the throne of 
the deposed Augustus. 

Reading 

Tacitus, Germania (for the life and institutions of the Germans) ; 
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chs. xviii-xxxviii ; 
Duruy, History of Rome, VIII. clis. cv-cix; History of the Middle 



3IO Barbarian Invasions 

Ages, bk. I. chs. i, ii ; Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, i, ii ; Bury, 
History of the Later Roman Empire, i. pp. 1-280 ; Curteis, History 
of the Roman Eiyipire, chs. vi-ix ; Emerton, Introduction to the Mid- 
dle Ages, chs. i-vi (ihe best brief history) ; Church, Beginnings of the 
Middle Ages, pp. 1-30 ; Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, 
chs. i-iv ; Thatcher and Schwill, Europe in the Middle Ages, chs. i-iii'; 
Henderson, History of Germany in the Middle Ages, chs. i, ii ; Bryce, 
Holy Roman Empire, chs. ii, iii ; Freeman, Chief Periods of Eitropean 
History, lect. iii : Rome and the New Nations ; Dill, Roman Society 
in the Last Cefitury of the Western Empire (especially bk. Ill, but 
valuable throughout) ; Montesquieu, Graiideiir and Decadence of the 
Ro?}ians, ch.. xix ; Seeley, i^ow«« Imperialism, lect. ii; Fowler, City- 
State, ch. xi ; Finlay, History of Greece, I. ch. ii ; Bradley, Goths 
(nations) ; Gardner, yiw/mw (heroes) ; Cutts, St. Augustine ; Newman, 
Arians of the Fourth Century ; Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome. 




Longitude East from 




i\.r,..<iri (;..,A:.r. 




Palace of Theodoric 

(Ravenna.) 



CHAPTER XIV 



THE EMPIRE OF 



THE NEW GERMAN STATES AND 

CHARLEMAGNE 

(476-800 A.D.) 



At the time when the sceptre fell from the hands of the The condition 

1 T-. 1 ^/ A 1 1, 1 • i^T of Europe in 

boy-emperor, K.omulus Augustulus, the entire \v est was .ySA.D. 

still in chaos. In Gaul and Spain the Burgundians, and 

more especially the Visigoths, were making some progress I'p- 302, 306. 

toward settled life and orderly government. The Vandals , ' ,', / 

-' ° pfiVi History, 

of Africa, remaining barbarous, persecuted and oppressed ch. i. 

their Roman subjects, while in northern Gaul the Franks ^'-^osf- 

pp. 290, 306, 

were still pagan, little touched by the civilization of Rome. 321. 

The Angles and the Saxons, who were already invading 

311 



312 



TJie New German States 



P. 321. 



Pp. 293, 309. 



The Ostro- 
goths. 
P. 297. 



454 A.D. 
Hodgkin, 
Italy, iii. 



Theodoric the 
Great, 
476-526. 
Gibbon, 
ch. xxxix. 



Britain, and of whom we have yet to hear, were not only 
pagans, but wholly ignorant of Roman ways of life. Italy, 
as we have seen, continued Roman till Odoacer gave a 
third of her land to his German soldiers.^ Under these 
circumstances, it is easy to understand why all the West 
was in confusion and conflict, — each invading race 
against the other, German against Roman, pagan against 
Christian, and Arian against Catholic. In this chapter we 
shall see how chaos gradually gave way to order, and how 
the various conflicting forces finally harmonized in one 
civilization, one religion, and one empire. 

The first of the great forces which helped bring about 
this change was the- East-Gothic nation. When Attila 
died, it threw off the Hunnish yoke, and settled in 
]\Ioesia as an ally of the emperor at Constantinople. One 
reason why the emjjire lasted longer in the East than in 
the West is to be found in the cleverness of the Eastern 
sovereigns in dealing with the barbarians, — in purchasing 
their friendship or in playing oft one tribe, or one chief, 
against another. But with the Ostrogoths they had much 
trouble, which ended in the migration of that race to 
Italy. 

The leader of the movement was Theodoric, known as 
the Great, the ablest and most statesmanlike of all the Ger- 
man chieftains whom we have thus far met. He brought 

1 Extending along the ancient frontier on the north, just outside the 
empire, a series of barbarous races pressed upon the heels of their 
kinsmen \\ho had crossed the border. On the shore of the Xorth Sea 
between the Rhine and the Elbe were the Frisians, farther south the 
Thuringians and the Alemanni. Eastward along the Danube were 
the Rugians, Lombards, and Gepidae in order, and beyond them the 
Slavs. " All these tribes, like their brethren who had gone before 
them, were showing a general tendency to press west and south, and 
take their share in the plunder of the dismembered empire." Oman, 
Etcropean History, p. 6. 




Church of San Atollinare Xuovo, Ravenna 

(Built by Theodoric.) 



The Ostrogoths 313 

his entire nation, women and children as well as warriors, 489 a.d. 
over the Alps, and fought three battles with Odoacer. 
After conquering his opponent, he put him to death, and 
then proceeded to take another third of the land of Italy 
from the owners to give to his men. 

Here his violence ceased; the conqueror became the His govem- 
statesman. His just laws, borrowed from the Roman Hod^^kin 
code, reconciled the native Italians to their new German Theodork. 
neighbors. While he himself remained master of all, he 
employed his Goths for war, the educated Romans as 
advisers, and the Italian commons for the humbler works 
of peace. With remarkable tact he adapted himself to his 
new position as king of Italy. Though he could neither 
read nor write, he encouraged education; a barbarian, he- 
yet appreciated the value of Roman law and civilization; 
an Arian, he tolerated the orthodox Catholics. Thus 
through the thirty-three years of his reign he pursued the 
liberal policy of harmonizing the discordant forces of his 
kingdom. Under him Italy was secure from invasion; and 
after centuries of ruinous dependence upon the provinces, 
the country recovered some of the prosperity it had known 
before the Punic Wars. The great cities could now repair 
their decayed public works and erect new ones. Among 
the king's buildings in Ravenna, his capital, was a beauti- 
ful church in the style of a basilica, which is still standing. 

His influence was felt outside of Italy : on the one hand. His foreign 
he continued subject in name to the emperor in Constanti- 
nople; on the other, he connected himself by marriages 
of his relatives with most of the German kings of the West. 
By such means he brought the warring races of the broken 
empire into some degree of friendly relation, which 
crudely foreshadowed the present state-system of Europe. 
Had his reign prospered to the end, he rather than Charle- 



relations. 



314 



TJie New German States 



magne might have been the restorer of the empire in the 
West; and in that case the Goths would have been the ruling 
race. But this was not to be. In his later years there were 
intrigues to rid Italy of the Goths and to bring the country 




SCALE OF MILES' 
100 200 300 400 
b 



If) longitude East from Greenwich 



Barmay i Co-^Hl^^ 



under the emperor. This trouble led Theodoric to put 
to death on a charge of conspiracy the two most eminent 
men of his court, — Boethius, the renowned philosopher, 
and Symmachus, also a noted scholar. Suspecting the 
pope of disloyalty, the king threw him into prison. 



Justinian 315 

where he soon died. Theodoric himself did not long 524-525 a.d. 
survive his victims. Thus a glorious reign ended in sad- 
ness; and no one after Theodoric was able to carry on 
his great work. 

In the reign of Theodoric, Justin became emperor. A Justin, 
rude Illyrian peasant, he had made his way to the im- ^^ "527^.1). 
perial ofBce by soldierly ability. Like the Gothic king of • 
Italy, he was ignorant even of the alphabet; but he gave 
his nephew Justinian a thorough education, and finally 
crowned him emperor. 

Justinian, who thus came to the imperial throne the year Justinian, 
after Theodoric's death, was ambitious "to restore the 527-5 5 a. d. 

Oman, 

grandeur of the empire" by conquering the German king- Byzantine 
doms of the West. He had the rare faculty of choosing ^^^P^^^' 

chs. vi, vii. 

the most competent person for each special sel-vice. His 
wife, the Empress Theodora, once a dancing girl of low 
character, was nevertheless a brilliant woman who increased 
the splendor of the court while she tyrannized over nobles 
and magistrates. At the same time she was charitable to 
the poor; and once in a riot her firmness saved the throne cf. p. 346. 
for her husband, whose ambition doubtless owed much to 
her influence. So in Belisarius the emperor found a com- 
mander of remarkable genius, well qualified to lead in the 
work of conquest. This general subdued the Vandals of 533-=;34a.d. 
Africa in one short campaign; for after the death of 
Gaiseric they had declined, and their Roman subjects 
welcomed the army of the East as a deliverer from 
oppression. 

Next year Belisarius attacked the Ostrogothic kingdom, conquest of 

which included Sicily as well as Italy. He met with little ^^^^^' 

. . . 535-540 A.l). 

opposition till he had entered Rome. There the Goths Hod'^kin, 
besieged him for a year; meantime Witigis, their king, itaiy/w. 
cut off the water supply, so that Rome lacked pure water 



3i6 



The Nezv German States 



till some of the aqueducts were restored a thousand years 
afterward. When the siege was at length raised, Belisa- 
rius, on his part, found it difficult to take the strong cities 
of northern Italy. By negotiation, however, he finally 
secured possession of the king and of the entire country.^ 
As the Roman rule was oppressive, the Goths immediately 
.revolted; but after a long, fierce struggle the remnant of 
their number bade farewell to Italy, and seem to have 
dispersed among various barbarian tribes. The penin- 
sula came wholly under the emperor, and was governed 
for him by an ofificer termed exarch whose capital was 
Ravenna. Still later, Justinian gained a foothold in south- 
eastern Spain but failed to conquer the entire West-Gothic 
kingdom. 

While the emperor was subduing Italy he was struggling 
to protect the empire from the Persians, who were as 
mighty as ever. More than once he had to purchase 
peace by the payment of tribute. It was well for Europe, 
however, that he was able to accomplish even that; and 
we should never lose sight of the fact that the German 
nations were free to work out the destiny of the continent 
only because the empire formed their bulwark against 
the powers of Asia. Such it continued to be for hundreds 
of years longer, till Constantinople fell into the hands of 
the Turks. 



1 The legal and diplomatic adviser of Belisarius in these campaigns 
was a Greek named Procopius, who wrote an admirable history of the 
wars — De Bellis — of Justinian. Though this work shows due respect 
for the emperor and empress, it is evident that in his heart the author 
disapproved their character. In his later years, accordingly, he com- 
posed a secret history — Anecdota — of the scandals and immoralities 
of the imperial court, whose corruption his anger and disgust exag- 
gerated. This last work did not come to light till after the author^s 
death. 



The Civil Law 



317 



Like the earlier Roman emperors, Justinian was a great Public works, 

builder of roads, fortifications, aqueducts, and other pub- ,,^'^- ' '^J' 

^ ^ Roman Em- 

iic works. The most splendid of his many churches was //;^, i. p.469 

the dome-covered cathedral of St. Sophia, now a mosque. ff;i'-p-4off- 




Cathedral of St. Sophia, Constantinople 

(Built by Justinian.) 

In his reign agriculture, commerce, and the skilled indus- 
tries still flourished throughout the empire; but the produce 
went to support the oppressive Church, State, and army. 
Though he did nothing to encourage the laborer, it was 
under his patronage that two Christian missionaries brought 
eggs of the silk-worm from China to Constantinople, and 
taught the Europeans the culture of silk. Justinian, how- 
ever, is most noted as the emperor who finally codified 
the Roman law. 

The legal system of Rome liad ])een developing for more Final codifi- 

, , , , , , , , . cation of the 

than a thousand years along two closely connected lines, j^^ 



3i8 The New German States 

p. 76. — first, statutes, and second, decisions. The earliest collec- 

tion of statutes was made by the Decemvirs, an extraordi- 
Gibbon, ch. nary legislative body. To these laws were added from 
xhv; Bury, time to time the acts of the assemblies during the repub- 

Later Roman 

Empire, i. ^^^j ^^^ ^^^ edicts of the praetors, which before Hadrian 
p. 365^- were binding only for the year of their issue. But these 

earlier statutes were gradually superseded by those of the 
emperors, who in time usurped all the legislative power. 
Thus there came to be a great, confused mass of imperial 
enactments, sorely in need of revision. The second 
branch of Roman law comprised the decisions^ of jurists 
as to how the statutes should apply to particular cases 
which had arisen or which might arise. These decisions, 
filling many volumes, had become hop>3lessly contradictory 
and inconsistent. It was a merit of Justinian that he 
wished to reduce this chaos to order. Accordingly under 
his authority Tribonian, an eminent jurist, aided by several 
associates, drew up first the Code, containing twelve books 
of statutes, and second, the Digest in fifty books, which 
summarized the decisions of all the most learned lawyers. 
To these they added a third work, the Institutes, a treatise 
on the principles of jurisprudence for the use of students. 
These writings together form the body of the Civil Law, 
the most precious gift of Rome to the modern world. 
Justinian an Fortunately for the progress of the human race, the 
oppressor. achievements of men are often superior to their actual, 
lives. For example Tribonian, who in codifying the law 
did sogreat a service for civilization, was himself avaricious 
and corrupt. His master, Justinian, illustrates the same 
truth. While he drudged for the glory of the empire, his 
expensive wars and his extravagance in building inflicted 
a grievous burden upon his subjects. With his rare 
1 Called Responsa because they were given in reply to questions. 



TJie Lo7nbards 319 

instinct for choosing competent helpers, he employed John 
of Cappadocia to supply him with funds. The genius of Beli- 
sarius for war was equalled by the talent of this minister of 
finance ^ for multiplying taxes and for extorting money by 
fair means or foul. Under his management the wretched 
population groaned like slaves before a cruel driver. 

Notwithstanding the abuses of Justinian's reign, we find The Lom- 
in him another factor which made for law and order j^^, 
throughout the world. Especially his conquests brought 568 a.d. 
the Western nations into closer contact with Roman civili- , ° ^ '"' 

Jtaly, V. 

zation, and further impressed upon the minds of the Ger- 
mans the idea that they, too, were included in the empire. P. 309. 
The rule of the emperors, however, was financially too bur- 
densome to be long endured in Italy. For twelve years 553-567 a.d. 
after its conquest the peninsula was governed by Narses, 
an able, ambitious man, whose public improvements 
weighed heavily upon the taxpayers. The story is that 
when the Italians grew weary of his rule, and the successor 
of Justinian ordered him, accordingly, to return to Con- 
stantinople, he besought the Lombards to save him by 
invading the country. They were a German tribe who had 
recently settled in Pannonia. In reply to the alleged invi- 
tation, their king Alboin led them into Italy. Though 
warlike they seem to have been few, so that they never 
succeeded in conquering the whole country. Their capi- 
tal was Pavia; and the district they held in the Po valley 
still bears the name of Lombardy. Besides this, they 
occupied a territory in central Italy northeast of Rome, and 
another in the south of the peninsula.^ 

1 Officially pretorian prefect. 

2 Alboin did not live long after his conquest of Italy. At a banquet 
he once bade Rosamond, his wife, drink fro)m a goblet made of the 
skull of her own father, whom the Lombard king had killed in battle. 



320 TJie Neiv Gennan States 

Character of Lacking a strong central government, the Lombards soon 
their rule. divided into a number of duchies, whose dukes were con- 
stantly fighting against one another, against the king, — 
when they had one, — and against the still miconquered 
districts. The Italians feared and hated them, for they 
were far harsher and more barbarous than the Goths had 
been; in fact it was only with the lapse of centuries that 
they gained some degree of Roman refinement. 
Results of Meantime their occupation of Italy had a far-reaching 

the conquest. ^^^^^ ^^^^ the history of the peninsula and of Europe. 

(I) Disunion r j l r 

of Italy. Their possessions were so distributed as to leave the uncon- 

quered territory cut up into duchies of varying size, with 
scarcely any means of communication with one another. 
Though these duchies, under the nominal lordship of the 
exarch of Ravenna, still looked to the emperor as their 
sovereign, most of them were practically independent. 
Thus the Lombard invasion destroyed the unity of Italy. 
In time, the country fell into a condition somewhat like 
that of ancient Greece, with her brilliant independent 
cities, jealous of one another and constantly at war, and 
with her weakness in relation to foreign states. It is only 
in recent years that Italy has become completely, and we 
may hope permanently, united and free. 

(II) Growth As a second important result of the Lombard conquest, , 
of the papal ^he pope of Rome, isolated from the exarch of Ravenna 

and from the emperor in the East, began to acquire, in 
addition to his priesthood, the character of a political 
ruler. The possessions of the papal office, or see, came 

She obeyed, but afterward had him murdered. Becoming the wife of 
one of the assassins, she gave her second husband poisoned liquor, and 
he, discovering the treachery, compelled her to finish the fatal draught. 
The annals of the German invaders abound in such stories of intrigue 
and violence. 



power. 



The Angles and Saxons 321 

to include, under the title of the Patrimony of St. Peter, Hodgkin, 
many estates throughout Italy and Sicily, which, could ^^'o'ce 
they have been massed together, would have made a con- 
siderable kingdom. As the administrator of the Patri- 
mony, the pope gained something of the power of an 
earthly, or temporal, prince. The man who did most to 
bring this about was Gregory the Great, an eminent states- 
man as well as priest, who became pope in 590 a.d. We 590-604 a. d. 
shall see how, many years later, the pope was made wholly 
independent of the Eastern emperor, and how his tem- 
poral power was greatly increased and placed on a lasting 
basis by the favor of a Frankish king. P. 328. 

Before beginning the story of the Franks, it is necessary Anglo-Saxon 
to learn something of the conquest of Britain by the Angles g^tin^ 
and the Saxons. Though Roman civilization and Chris- 
tianity took no deep hold upon this island, the yoke of 411 a.d. 
Rome had made the Celtic population weak and cowardly. 
Hence, when Honorius recalled his troops from Britain, P. 299. 
the inhabitants of that part which had been subject to 
Rome could not defend themselves against the barbarians 
who assailed them on every side. Scots from Ireland, 
Picts from Scotland, and Jute and Saxon pirates grievously 
distressed them, and threatened, in fact, to overrun the q\\^^,^ 
whole country. "The barbarians," groaned the wretched Groavs of 
Britons, "drive us to the sea; the sea throws us back on '^ '-'"'/f- 
the barbarians; thus two modes of death assail us, — we 
are either slain or drowned." At length they called upon 
the Jutes, a Germanic tribe, to help them against the Picts. 449 a.d. 
The defenders became conquerors; and their example was 
followed by their more numerous kinsmen, the Angles and 
the Saxons, who in time subdued and settled all the 
Romanized part of the island. The Britons who survived 
were pushed back or reduced to serfdom, so that little 

Y 



322 



The Neiv German States 



English civ- 
ilization. 
Green, Eng- 
lish People ; 
Coman and 
Kendall, 
England. 



596 A.D. 



664 A.D. 



The Franks. 

Pp. 274, 306, 
^11. 



Clovis, 

4S1-5II A.D. 



trace of them is left in the England which resulted from 
the conquest: on the other hand, Wales, Scotland, and Ire- 
land remained Celtic. The leaders of the invading bands 
became kings, each of the small district he had subdued. 
In time arose seven states, — the so-called Heptarchy, — 
which finally united in one kingdom. 

As the Angles and the Saxons, before the conquest, had 
lived in northern Germany, far away from the empire, 
they knew nothing of Christianit}" or of Roman civiliza- 
tion. Under them, therefore, Britain again became bar- 
barous and pagan. The invaders brought to their new 
home the manners and institutions which had been theirs 
in the fatherland, and from which the English people of 
to-day have derived their government and law, scarcely 
touched by the influence of Rome. As to the religion 
of the Anglo-Saxon conquerors, the case was quite differ- 
ent. Pope Gregor}^ the Great sent them missionaries, and 
others came to them from Ireland, which had already been 
Christianized. As there was some difference bet^\'een 
the Irish and Roman churches, strife ensued, in which 
Rome at length triumphed; so that England became sub- 
ject to the Roman church, acknowledging the pope as 
her supreme spiritual authority. It was no little gain to 
the cause of peace and civilization that when Britain 
was forever broken from the empire, religion reunited 
it to Rome. 

It remains for us to follow the story of the Franks. 
Politically they proved to be the most important of the 
Germans; for their rulers, with the help of the pope, suc- 
ceeded in reducing the various invading races to unit}' and 
order, — • in reestablishing the empire in the West. 

Toward the end of the fifth century a.d., when the 
Franks were about to enter upon their great political 



Clovis 323 

career, they occupied both banks of the middle and lower Sergeant, 
Rhine. Not sriven to wandering as were the other Ger- ^^ T."^/' 

ens. viu-xi. 

mans, they had contented themselves with gradually 
extending their territory. We find them divided into a 
number of tribes, each under a chief. One of these petty 
sovereigns was Clovis, who began to reign in 481 a.d. 
His life-work was to be the founding of a united Frank- 
ish kingdom, embracing most of Gaul, together with a 
part of western Germany. 

Near him were the Romans, who still held a district in Condition of 
northern Gaul; to the southeast dwelt the Burerundians, o , !, 

' o ' z|.oI. A. I ). 

and to the south the Visigoths, whose territory included Pp. 302, 306. 
not only a large portion of Gaul, but most of Spain. The Pp. 305, 313. 
Vandals held Africa; and Theodoric the Ostrogoth was 
soon to conquer Italy. Such was the condition of south- 
western Europe at this time. 

In a battle at Soissons Clovis conquered his Roman Conquests of 
neighbors. He then defeated the Burgundians, and made ,86 ad. 
them tributary, though he failed to incorporate them wholly 
in his kingdom. In another war he brought under his rule 
most of the West-Goths who lived in Gaul. Many years 
he was engaged in these conquests. Meantime he was plot- 
ting against the chiefs of the other Frankish tribes. By hav- 
ing them murdered, one after another, he finally united in 
his own hands the authority of all. Thus through war and 
intrigue, he did much to weld Celts, Romans, and Germans 
into the great Frankish nation. 

In the beginning of his reign he and his subjects were ciovisand 
pagan. But he married the Burgundian princess Clotilda, <^^"stiamty. 
who chanced to belong to the Roman church; and when, 
somewhat later, he persuaded himself that her God had 
helped him win a battle, he and three thousand of his war- 
riors were baptized into her faith. To appreciate the im- 



324 The New German States 

portance of this event, we must recall the fact that while the 

Romans in what had been the Western empire were of the 

orthodox faith, the invading Germans, with the exception 

of a few families like that of Clotilda, were heterodox 

Arians. Again, the orthodox church naturally aimed to, 

defend its own form of belief and to suppress Arianism. 

Accordingly it welcomed Clovis, and encouraged him to 

conquer the heretic Burgundians and West-Goths. Now 

it was this alliance between the Roman church and the 

pp. 327, 330. Frankish throne which, three centuries later, was to refound 

the empire in the West and to give a new character to 

mediaeval history. 

The Merovin- Clovis was a barbarian; though converted to Chris- 

^^j^^' tianitv, he remained treacherous and cruel to the end. 

Adams, ■' 

French Na- Nevertheless, as the maker of a strong, influential nation, 

tion, ch. 111. YiQ did a priceless service for civilization. His descend- 
ants, who continued to rule for nearly two and a half 

511-752 A.I), centuries after him, carried on his work. They are called 
Merovingians, from ^Merowig, grandfather of Clovis. We 
need not d\vell on the details of their long reign. P'or a 

511-548 A.I), time the members of the dynasty were able and aggressive. 
Under them the kingdom of the Franks grew in extent and 
prospered; not only did important German nations^ submit 
to them, but they gained more thorough control of Burgundy 
and of southern Gaul — the land of the Visigoths. Then 
their conquests ceased; instead of consolidating the great 
kingdom, rival heirs to the throne of Clovis began to murder 

548-638 A.D. one another and to waste the country in civil war. Their 
cruelty fills nearly a century of their country's history. 
Sometimes the heirs divided the provinces among them- 
selves, and again a strong ruler would reunite the kingdom. 

1 Thuringia, Swabia, and Bavaria. Frisia was added by the follow- 
ing dynasty. 



CJiarles Mart el 325 

The tendency was to a division into three loosely connected 
states, — Austrasia, which was thoroughly German; Neus- 
tria, whose population contained an influential Roman ele- 
ment; and Burgundy. The last important Merovingian Dagobert, 
king was Dagobert, whose reign ended in 638. Thereafter 628-638 a.d. 
the rulers of this dynasty were so weak and worthless as to 
earn the title of do-nothing kings. 

As these rulers grew more and more feeble, the steward Mayers of the 
of the royal household, termed Mayor of the Palace, gradu- 
ally took the management of public affairs into his own 
hands and became prime minister. In Austrasia the posi- 
tion came to be hereditary in a powerful family known to 
history as Carolingian, from Charles the Great, its most p. 328. 
illustrious member. The achievement of the early Caro- 
lingians was to reunite the Frankish nation. This work * 
was completed by Mayor Charles, afterward surnamed Charles 
Martel. It was an especially fortunate event, for the ^^''^^^^'• 
Franks needed their combined strength against the Moham- 
medans, who had recently conquered Spain and were now 
threatening all Europe. 

The Mohammedans were followers of Mohammed, who The Moham- 
was born about 571 a. d., in Mecca, the holy city of Arabia. "^^ ^°^' 
Before his time the Arabs were idolaters, but he presented 
himself to them as the prophet of the one God. With a 
marvellous personality and a deep knowledge of the reli- 
gious and moral needs of his people, he wrote and spoke 
as one inspired. His writings, which afterward composed 
the Koran, he asserted to be a revelation from God; to his 
followers they were what the Bible was to the Christians. 
When the men of Mecca threatened his life, he fled to 622 a.d. 
Medina, whose inhabitants warmly welcomed him. As his 
church grew strong, he proclaimed that the faith should be 
forced upon unbelievers. "The sword," he declared, ''is 



326 



TJie New German States 



I"- 333- 



Freeman, 
Sarace/is. 



Gibbon, ch. 1, the key of heaven and hell; a drop of blood shed in the 
cause of God, a night spent in arms, avails more than two 
months of fasting and prayer; whosoever falls in battle, his 
sins are forgiven; at the day of judgment his wounds shall 
be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk; and 
the loss of limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels." 
Henceforth his follow^ers rapidly increased. Some were 
attracted by faith, others by fear, and others by hope of 
conquest and plunder. Soon the army of believers spread 
the faith over Arabia, Syria, Persia, and as far into Asia as 
Alexander the Great had marched. But when they tried 
to conquer the Roman empire in the East, the walls of 
Constantinople withstood the shock of their fanatic arms. 
On the south shore of the Mediterranean, however, they met 
with little resistance. They conquered Egypt, and in the 
course of the seventh century a.d. the entire African coast 
to the Strait of Gibraltar. Fierce religious enthusiasm, 
absolute faith in destiny, — in the future bliss of the devout 
warrior of God, — the glory and the rewards of victory, 
swept them impatiently on. Early in the eighth century, 
they crossed to Spain and readily overran the decayed 
kingdom of the Visigoths. Their empire now lay along 
the Mediterranean in a stupendous crescent, whose horns 
threatened Christian Europe east and west. 

When they invaded France, at first with their usual suc- 
cess, Christianity seemed doomed; but a power existed 
with which the Saracens had not reckoned, — the fresh 
virile nation of Franks lately united under Mayor Charles. 
At his call, thousands of stalwart warriors gathered to repel 
the danger. The hosts met in battle near Poitiers in 
732 A.D. All day the light cavalry of the invaders dashed 
in vain against the immovable ranks of Prankish infantry. 
The Mohammedans lost vast numbers, including their able 



711 A.D. 



The battle of 
Poitiers (or 
of Tours), 
732 A.D. 



Pippin 327 

commander. They saw at once that they had met their 
superiors; and deserting their camp, they retreated south- 
ward. The victory saved western Europe from the Moham- 
medans; though they were still able to annoy, they were no 
longer dangerous. To Charles, the victor, after ages gave 
the name Martel — the Hammer — in remembrance of his 
blows which crushed all enemies. 

Charles died in 741 a.d., and was succeeded by his Mayor 
son Pippin. Father and son pursued the same methods ^p^^"' 

^^ ^ 741-751 A.D. 

of building up the power of the Franks; and we need 
not separate their work here. Outlying provinces which 
had revolted they reduced to submission; they further 
strengthened the central authority by engaging the nobles 
in their service ; they brought the churches of the realm 
into one religious system, which, however, they held sub- 
ordinate to the State; and with the aid of religion they 
strove to uplift the morals of their people. As the Franks, 
while retaining much of their primitive barbarism, had 
adopted the vices of Roman civilization, there was now 
great need of reform. 

Charles remained simply mayor to his death; but Pippin King Pippin, 
deposed the royal Merovingian puppet, and himself became 751-768 a.d. 
king by a double ceremony: the Franks elected him in 
their own fashion, and the Church anointed him with holy 
oil according to biblical usage. Thus he ascended the 
throne with the consent of the pope. In fact the rela- 
tions between the papal see and the Prankish throne had 
been friendly from the days of Clovis, and now ripened P. 324. 
into a close alliance. Charles Martel had been asked for 
help against the Lombards, who were besieging the pope 
in Rome. When another pope found himself threatened 
by the Lombards, he called on Pippin for aid. There- 
upon the king of the Franks twice invaded Italy, took 



Z2^ 



The New German States 



p. 321, 



Charlemagne , 

768-814 A.D. 
Emerton, 
Middle Ages, 
chs. xiii, xiv. 



Appearance 
and char- 
acter. 
Hodgkin, 
Charles the 
Great, p. 85 ; 
of. Einhard, 
Charles the 
Great. 



Ilis con- 
quests. 



772-803 A.D. 



from the Lombards the country about Ravennr., — a terri- 
tory they had wrested from the emperor; and instead of 
restoring it to the rightful owner, he placed it under the 
rule of the pope. This dominion came to the pope in 
addition to the actual landed property of his office in- 
cluded under the term Patrimony of St. Peter. As he was 
now able to throw off all allegiance to the emperor, and as 
the gift of Pippin was indeed vast, this donation rather than 
the earlier Patrimony is generally considered the begin- 
ning of the pope's temporal power. The head of the 
Church now possessed great revenues, an army, and an 
influential place among the princes of this world. His 
temporal power lasted till 1870, when his dominions 
passed to A'ictor Emmanuel, king of Italy. 

Charles, who succeeded his father Pippin in 768, is 
known to us as Charles the Great — Charlemagne. From 
the fact that he stamped his character upon western 
P^urope, and gave direction to the current of its history 
for centuries, we reckon him among the most eminent men 
of all time. 

" He was a man of commanding presence, more than six 
feet high, with large and lustrous eyes, a rather long nose, 
a bright and cheerful countenance, and a fine head of hair, 
which we may suppose to have been . . . yellow like that 
of his Teutonic forefathers." More remarkable than the 
beauty and the majesty of his person was his genius for 
political organization and government, directed by a well- 
considered purpose of educating his people and of improv- 
ing their religious and moral condition. 

One of his chief aims was to round out his kingdom on the 
east by the conquest of Saxony. Early in his reign, accord- 
ingly, he began the war, which lasted with many interrup- 
tions more than thirty years. To conquer an enemy whom he 



Charlemagne 



329 



could not find, who would not meet him in open fight, who 
loved freedom and kindred above every law or treaty obli- 
gation, was a wearisome task. At length, however, it was 
done; the Saxons accepted Christianity and the firm, just 
rule of Charlemagne. Early in the Saxon war, in an inter- 
val of quiet, Charlemagne invaded Spain to support a 778 a.d. 
faction of Mohammedans against the central government. 




The Iron Crown of Lombardy 

The inner circle of iron said to have been made from a nail of the True Cross. 
(Cathedral of Monza.) 

The campaign was a failure; and while recrossing the Alps 
the army fell into an ambuscade which, the mountain 
Basques had laid for it in a gorge at Roncesvalles. The 
king lost his baggage-train and many men. Among the 
officers killed was one who under the name of Roland 
afterward became a famous hero of romance. Notwith- 
standing the failure of this expedition, later efforts pushed 785-812 a.d. 
the Frankish border some distance south of the Pyrenees. 



330 



TJie New German States 



Conquest of 
Lombardy, 

774 A.D. 



Emperor 
Charles, 
800-814 A.D. 



Emerton, 
Mediceval 
Europe, p. 6. 



The wars which he found necessary for defending his 
kingdom, and for knitting it together, need not detain us. 
Far more important was his conquest of the Lombards, in 
response to another call of the pope for help against them. 
Charlemagne himself assumed the iron crown of Lombardy 
in addition to his sovereignty over the Franks. On Christ- 
mas Day, 800 A.D., while he was kneeling at prayer in the 
Church of St. Peter, Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor 
of the Romans. In one sense this was a revival of the 
Roman empire of the West: Roman learning,^ Roman 
traditions, and the potent influence of Roman law, system, * 
and centralization continued in it. In another sense it 
was Germanic: the dominant race was German; the 
Frankish nation, which had brought about this union of 
the races, remained the most thoroughly German of all 
the invaders; much of the strength, the vitality, and the 
free life of the Germans animated this empire, at once new 
and old. For a capital, so far as he needed one, Charle- 
magne preferred Aachen, — Aix-la-Chapelle, — or some 
other German city, to Rome. His heart was German; his 
mind only was Roman. In his system, too, the idea of 
Christendom largely supplanted that of the Roman world. 
"Germanic nationality, the Christian religion according to 
Rome, and the leadership of the Franks, — these were the 
three bases upon which the empire of Charlemagne rested." 
It was not the same in extent as the empire of the West; 
for it left out Britain, most of Spain, all Africa, and a part 
of Italy; on the other hand, it included Germany as far 

1 Latin, too, was the language of learning throughout the realm of 
Charlemagne; but the uneducated Germans who settled within the 
Roman empire met with little success in their attempt to learn the 
speech of the Romans (p. 258). The dialects resulting from these 
efforts have developed into the modern Romance languages, as the 
Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. 



The Einpire of Charlemagne 331 

at least as the Elbe, — a vast territory Rome had tried in 
vain to conquer. Not least among his services, Charle- 
magne so massed the strength of the Germans that they 
could ward off the Slavs and the Turanians, who pressed 
upon them from the east. 

The most interesting feature of his government was his church and 

St£Lt6 

relation to the pope. Following the example of his fore- 
fathers, Charlemagne made himself temporal head of the 
Church as thoroughly as of the State. He controlled the 
clergy, and presided over the religious councils which 
regulated sacred affairs. The pope was spiritual adviser, 
whose religious sanctions added weight to the acts of the 
emperor. Thus the Church was still subordinate to the 
State; the struggle for supremacy between the emperor and 
the pope belonged to the future. 

Though some years after his death his country was di- The empire 

survives 

vided, the idea and the influence of the empire were per- ^^ ^g^g ^ ^^ 
manent. Thereafter men held persistently to the belief in 
a unity of Christian nations under one head, — this was 
the controlling idea of the Middle Ages. Formally the 
empire of Charlemagne continued till Napoleon Bonaparte 
destroyed it in 1806, a thousand years after its founding. 



While the German nations were establishins: themselves in The empire in 

the East after 



the West, preparatory to their union under Charlemagne, the 



Justinian, 

empire in the East was slowly decaying. The brilliant reign of oman Euro- 

Justinian exhausted the resources of his people. His immediate peanHistofy, 

successors, mostly well-minded men of average ability, pursued chs. ix, xii, 

ends too high for their means. Their wars and excessive taxes >^i^'. ^^'"'' 

continued to waste the empire. They soon lost their foothold • 3^^- 

in Spain and most of Italy. On the Danubian border Goths P" 3^5. 310. 

and Lombards gave way to Turanian Avars, who plundered the ^^^^' '^ ^^ 

„ . . , , , , , , . 1 /- 1 Romafi 

European provmces, seized strongholds, and levied fines on the ^ . 

government. Then came hordes of Slavs, to overrun Moesia, jj „ g„ ^ 

Thrace, and Greece. Cunning savages at first, far lower than 



332 



TJie New German States 



Wars with 
Persia. 

565-578. 
(Tiberius 
Constan- 
tinus, 578- 
582.) 

582-602 A.D. 
602-610 A.D. 



Heraclius, 

610-641 A.D. 



626-628 A.D. 

628 A.D. 

The Moham- 
medans and 
the empire. 

629 A.D. 



640 A.D. 

641 A.D. 

717 A.D. 



Leo of 
Isauria, 
717-741 A.D. 



the most barbarous Germans, in the end they formed colonies, 
whence have come the Croats, Servians, and Bosnians of modern 
times. 

Meanwhile there was almost continual war with Persia. 
Justin II, nephew and heir of Justinian, foolishly attacked the 
great power of the East, and left to his successor the legacy of 
a burdensome, fruitless struggle. Maurice, a ruler of good char- 
acter and of fair ability, made terms with Persia, and promised 
his subjects some degree of happiness ; but he was killed in a 
mutiny led by Phocas, a rough soldier, who usurped the throne. 
The new ruler was a weak tyrant, whose only pleasure was in 
cruelty and brutal self-indulgence. In his reign the Persians 
overran the eastern provinces and even Asia Minor. Soon, 
however, he was dejDOsed and killed by Heraclius, whose father, 
of the same name, was exarch of Africa. For ten years after 
the younger Heraclius ascended the throne, the Persians con- 
tinued to gain ground. They not only held Mesopotamia, Syria, 
and Asia Minor, but even seized Jerusalem and conquered Egypt. 
The loss of the rich valley of the Nile seemed fatal to the em- 
pire ; but the capture of the holy city roused the Christians to a 
crusade for its recovery. In violation of court etiquette, Hera- 
clius took the field in person, and in a succession of campaigns 
displayed a military genius the empire had not seen since Julius 
Caesar. He recovered the lost provinces, and compelled Persia 
to sue for peace. 

In the following year the Mohammedans first assailed the 
empire, and at the same time attacked Persia. Neither of tlie 
great powers could withstand the fierce onset of the Arabs. 
Year after year the fanatics of the desert renewed their attacks 
in greater numbers and with increasing fury, till Persia was for- 
ever humbled, and Heraclius, old and feeble from sickness, saw 
the dreaded enemy in possession of Mesopotamia, Syria, and 
even Egypt. After his death, the Moslems, while sweeping over 
northern Africa into Spain, advanced their empire to the gates 
of Constantinople. The crisis came early in the eighth century 
when a hundred thousand Mohammedans marched to besiege 
the capital of the empire, and a thousand of their ships block- 
aded the Bosporus. Leo the Isaurian, who came to the throne 
at this time, was equal to the emergency. While his Greek fire 
burned a great part of their armada, he drove their land forces 



TJie Eastern Emperors 



333 



back with terrible slaughter. Thus Leo in 718, as Charles 
Martel fourteen years afterward, saved Christendom from the P. 327. 
Moslems. 

After the victory Leo applied himself to administration. To Image 
purify the Christian religion from what he considered superstition, breaking, 
he ordered all holy images to be removed or destroyed, and all 
pictures on church walls to be obliterated. Hence he is called 
the first iconoclastic or image-breaking emperor. Although Italy 




Persian Warriors 

(National Museum, Naples.) 



741-780 A.D. 



defied the order, he enforced it against great opposition through- 
out the East. The three following rulers who were of his dynasty 
continued the war alike upon the Saracens and upon images. 
This zeal caused a rupture between the churches of the East and 
West, for the pope of Rome and the Western clergy favored the 
use of images. But when the Empress Irene took the reins of (Con^tan- 
government, at first as regent for her son Constantine VI, she tine VI, 780- 
revived image-worship. The Slavs and the Saracens ravaged 797; Irene, 
her country, and Charlemagne set up a rival empire in the 
West. 

But the empire was naturally strong. Roman organization, 
discipline, and experience in administration accumulated through strength, 
hundreds of years, kept the state alive for centuries after Irene, 



797-802 A.D.) 

P. 278. 
Roman 



334 T^^^ New German States 

amid wars and barbarian invasions : and the state on its part 
preserved for the modern world a remnant of the vast treasure of 
ancient civilization. 

Reading 

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Ronan Evipire, chs. xxxix-lii ; 
Hodgkin, Italy and her l7ivade)'s, iii-viii ; Dynasty of Theodosius ; 
77ieodo7'ic {hexoQs); Charles the Great ; Davis, Charlemagne (heroes); 
Bury, History of the Later Eoma^i Empire, i. p. 280, to the end of 
ii ; Emerton, Introduction to the Middle Ages, chs. vi-xiv ; Church, 
Beginnings of the Middle Ages, chs. ii-vii ; Oman, Europe, 476-918, 
chs. i-xxii ; Byzantine Empire (nations) ; Art of War, ii ; Sergeant, 
The Franks (nations) ; Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, 
chs. v-vii ; Duruy, History of the Middle Ages, bk. I. chs. iii-v ; bks. II, 
III ; Thatcher and Schwill, Europe in the Middle Ages, chs. ii-v ; 
Henderson, History of Germany in the Middle Ages, chs. ii-v ; 
Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, chs. iv, v ; Finlay, History of Greece, I. 
chs. iii-v; II. bk. i; Hadley, Introduction to Ro?7ian Law; ]M air- 
head, Roman Lazu ; jNIorey, Outlines of Roman Law; Howe, Studies 
in the Civil Laxo and its Relations to the Law of England and 
America ; Fling, Studies in European History, i. p. 146 ff. (extracts 
from the Roman law) ; Oilman, The Saracens (nations) ; Freeman, 
History and Conquests of the Saracens; Lane, Arabian Society in the 
Middle Ages ; Tvluir, The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline, and Fall ; Life 
of Mahomet; Mohammed, The Qur^dn (Koran), translated by Palmer. 




A Roman and his Wife 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



CHAPTER XV 

THE PRIVATE AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE ROMANS 

In the Late Republic and Early Empire 

The greatness of Rome in the best days of the republic Birth and 
was largely due to the peculiar character of the Roman 
family. As the father was accustomed to expose weak or 
deformed children, leaving them to die or be picked up by 
strangers, those whom he spared ^ usually grew up healthy 

1 On the ninth day after birth the son who was to be reared received 
his name. The parents selected the personal name — pj'csitomen ; that 
of the gens — nomen — and of the family — cogjiomen — passed from 
father to son. Sometimes a second cognomen was added as a memo- 
rial of a conquest, or as indicating an adoption. In " Publius Cornelius 
Scipio Africanus," the first word is the name of the person, tlie second 
of the gens, the third of the family, and the fourth distinguishes the 
bearer as the conqueror of Africa. 

335 



33^ Roman Life 

and strong. Both parents were equally careful to train the 
children in the stern, simple virtues which made good 
soldiers and great citizens. During "the early republic 
girls and boys received all their instruction from their 
parents, in the house, field, shop, or senate. In course of 
time, however, as more attention was paid to education, 
and as business and statesmanship alike came to demand a 
knowledge of Greek, private schools were opened. After 
the children had learned reading, writing, and arithmetic, 
they advanced to the study of literature, including Greek 
and Latin authors: and finally the boy was instructed in 
composition and oratory as a preparation for public life. 
Toward the end of the republic there were in wealthy 
families educated slaves and paid rhetoricians and philoso- 
phers who attended to the various grades of instruction till 
the youth was ready to put the finishing touches to his 
education in the schools of Athens, Rhodes, or some other 
cultured Hellenic city. 
Marriage When he had completed his studies and had reached the 

age of perhaps twent}^-five or thirty, it was his duty to 
marry. After deciding upon a lady whom he judged suit- 
able to be his wife, he arranged the betrothal with her 
father, as the maiden w^as usually too young to be consulted 
in the matter, and furthermore Roman women were always 
under guardianship. The marriage ceremonies began with 
a feast and sacrifices in the house of the bride's father. 
In the evening a procession of youths, torch-bearers, 
musicians, and guests escorted the bride to her future 
home, where the groom carefully lifted her over the 
threshold, as it was an ill omen for her to touch the sill 
with her foot. In case the wedding was of the ancient 
sacred form termed confa?-reatio, the newly married pair 
after entering the house ate together a sacred cake in the 



TJie Family 



337 



presence of ten witnesses and of the chief pontiff and priest 
of Jupiter. The ceremonies of the evening ended with a 
bridal song by the guests, and on the following day the 
husband gave a marriage feast to his friends. 

Though early custom placed the wife in the power of The matron, 
her husband, she went freely into society, attended the 




A Fountain 

(Palace of the Conservatori, Rome.) 



theatres and public games, taught her children, and some- 
times aided her husband in his political career. Her posi- 
tion as mistress of the household commanded respect from 
the government as well as from society. 

Under the empire some remarkable changes took place Better treat- 
in family life. We discover a tendency to treat children ^^^^ ' 
with increasing kindness and consideration. \Vaifs, 



33^ Roman Life 

exposed by their parents, had frequently been picked up 
by strangers, who reared them as slaves or even maimed 
and blinded them to adapt them to the profession of beg- 
ging. It was a sign of growing humanity, however, that 
P. 248. Trajan provided a fund for rearing poor children, — a 

measure which checked the exposure and mistreatment of 
infants. At the same time parents and teachers began to 
substitute kindness for whipping in the education of the 
young. No matter how old a son might be, the father had 
a right to kill him without trial, till Hadrian changed the 
custom by punishing as a murderer a man who had slain 
his son. 

Increasing This development of the rights of children was an omen 

immorality. ... , , . . . , . , . r 1 i 

of evil as well as of good; for the strict morality of old 

Rome disappeared along with the iron rule of the father. 
Before the end of the republic the sacred forms of mar- 
riage were giving way to civil contracts made and dissolved 
at pleasure. Such agreements left the wife in charge of her 
property and free from her husband's power. Whatever 
improvement this change may have wrought in the condi- 
tion of women, it was a clear proof of moral depravity, 
which had brought the pure life of the family to an end. 
Divorce grew alarmingly frequent; Seneca, the philoso- 
pher, says there were women who reckoned their years by 
the number of their husbands. In the. gay society of the 
capital many men avoided the responsibility of rearing a 
family, or reluctantly submitted to marriage through fear 
of the law. With the decline of the family, once the 
nursery of virtue, Roman society became thoroughly cor- 
rupt; men and women sought pleasure not only in extrava- 
gant luxuries, but even in monstrous vices and crimes. 
P. 235.' Morals were probably at their worst in the early empire ; in 

the reign of Vespasian society was already growing better. 



The House 



339 



The private life of the Romans was far more secluded The Roman 
from public view than ours is. If a man had a beautiful ^^ " 
garden, he surrounded it with a high wall, as the Italians 
do at the present day. If his house stood on the street, 
he gave the passers-by no opportunity to look within. The 
traveller who walks through the narrow streets of Pompeii 




House Furniturk 

(From Pompeii.) 



sees on both sides plain walls with a few small windows 
opening from the second floor. Two thousand years ago a 
visitor at one of these houses came first to the vestibule, 
a narrow entrance court from which a hall led to the heavy 
oaken door. As the visitor approached, the porter, roused 
from a nap in his little lodge, opened the door. The dog 
growled, or in place of the living animal, the guest perhaps 
aaw the creature represented in mosaic on the pavement, 
with the words, "Beware of the dog — r<?ev' canem /" 



340 



Roman Life 



The dining 
rooms. 



The atrium. The guest entered the atrium^ where he found the lord 

of the house. Originally it was the only room; but as 
the dwelling grew in size and the apartments multiplied, 
it came to be used chiefly for receiving guests. It was 
roofed over with the exception of an opening in the 
centre, which admitted the light and through which the 
rain poured into a square basin in the floor. In the middle 
of the basin was a fountain adorned with beautiful reliefs; 
and the entire atrium was richly decorated with costly 
pillars, statues, paintings, and purple hangings. On the 
floor were fine mosaics. An alcove, termed tablininn, in 
the rear of the atrium contained the family archives, and 
on each side of the tablinum was a recess, — ala, — in 
which nobles kept the waxen masks and other portraits of 
their ancestors. ^ 

Adjoining the atrium and in various quarters of the 
house were dining rooms termed triclinia^ each containing 
at least one table. Three sides of the table were occupied 
by couches on which the luxurious Romans reclined while 
eating their sumptuous repasts. A board on the fourth side 
held the costly vases and curiosities of the proprietor; and 
the whole room was lavishly adorned with works of art. 

The peristyle. More secluded than the atrium, yet more open to the 
sky, was the peristyle, an inner court so named from the 
columns which surrounded the large uncovered square in 
the centre. This open space contained a fountain in the 
midst of flower-beds and trees. Around this court were 
the sleeping rooms and other private apartments of the 
women, whereas those of the men were often grouped about 
the atrium. There were also a kitchen, elaborate bath- 
rooms, and sometimes a library. This description applies 
to the first floor. The Romans piled one story above 
another till Augustus limited the height of houses to 



Slaves 341 

seventy feet. The upper rooms are not so well known, 
nor could they have been so attractive, as those of the 
ground floor. Indeed the Roman deprived himself of 
many private comforts that he might make a rich display 
before his guests. The wealthy man's dwelling was very 
large: the so-called House of the Faun at Pompeii occu- 



Peristyle of a House in Pompeii 

(House of the Vctti.) 

pies an entire square; that of the Roman noble usually 262 by 125 ft. 
covered a far greater area. 

The care of a lordly residence required the service of a Slaves, 
multitude of slaves; we hear of a man who in the country 
and city together employed more than four thousand.^ 
They were organized, somewhat like an army, in divisions 
and companies under their several overseers. Each ser- 

1 Athenoeus, vi. 104, makes the statement, doubtless exaggerated, 
that a Roman sometimes possessed as many as twenty thousand slaves. 



342 Roman Life 

vant had as his special duty some minute part of the house- 
hold work. Many were needed for the ceremonies attending 
the admission of guests, many for the care of the baths, 
bedrooms, kitchen, and dining rooms, as well as for the 
wardrobes, toilet, and personal service of the various 
members of the family. On going out the master or 
mistress was accompanied by a throng of servants, whose 
number and splendid livery advertised the rank and wealth 
of their owner. Other companies of slaves spun Wool, 
made clothes, kept the house in repair, and cared for the 
sick. There were some whose task was to enforce order 
and quiet among the rest. We could hardly believe that 
so many persons in a single household could find employ- 
ment or that the processes of labor could be so minutely 
portioned out, did we not take into account the genius of 
the Romans for organization. On the country estates were 
ploughmen, herdsmen, vinedressers, gardeners, keepers of 
bees, poultry, and fish, and many other classes of laborers. 
Cruel treat- Slaves not born in the household were obtained by war, 

kidnapping, or purchase ; on a single estate one might see 
representatives of all the nationalities of the known world. 
As a rule the master treated them with extreme harshness 
and cruelty. He encouraged quarrels among them that 
they might not join in plotting against his own life; for 
the slightest offences he scourged, tortured, or crucified 
them. He threw them into the ponds to feed his fish, or 
to the wild beasts of the arena. In the country they often 
worked in gangs chained together, and slept in crowded, 
filthy dungeons. Those who were too old or too sickly to 
work or to put on the market, the master exposed at the 
shrine of yEsculapius on an island in the Tiber, or killed 
outright. He fed and clothed all poorly, kept them at 
hard labor, and when they were worn out, he bought fresh 



Improved Condition 



343 



ones. This inhuman treatment goaded the slaves of Sicily P- 132. 



138 (?)-i32, 
105-99 B.C. 



to two fierce revolts, which Rome subdued with great diffi- 
culty. For the same reason a multitude of those in Italy 
joined the insurrection of Spartacus the gladiator. Slavery p. 177. 
was in brief the economic, social, and moral curse of 
Rome, and a cause of her downfall. 

In the imperial period men and women gradually learned improved 
to treat their slaves with greater kindness. Claudius and ^°^ ^ ^°^' 
other emperors after _^^__,.^_,_„_.^_______^_ p. 226. 

him made laws to 

check the worst 

abuses : courts were 

established to hear 

the complaints of 

those who were ill 

treated; the killing 

of a slave came 

to be punishable 

as homicide; and 

finally the jurists 

taught that the law 

of nature had made 

slaves human beings. The philosophers preceded the 

jurists in encouraging kind treatment of inferiors; and 

indeed from various causes the Romans were growing 

more refined and humane. We hear of a lady as tender 

as a mother to her slaves; we know also that those of Pliny 

the Younger enjoyed substantially the rights of freemen 

and at the same time the care of an affectionate master. 

Originally, too, the law forbade slaves to marry; living 
together in an informal union, a slave pair had no right 
to their children. Later, however, the jurists applied the 
terms husband and wife to those who had formed such 




A Well-curb 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



344 



Roman Life 



Freedmen. 



Social life. 
P. 252. 



unions, and Constantine the Great forbade the separation 
of the slave family. 

From early times it often happened that a slave won his 
freedom by faithful service or purchased it with his savings. 
He then became a client of his former master, whose busi- 
ness it was customary for him to help manage. The freed- 
men formed a large, intelligent class, socially inferior to 
freemen, but very enterprising and influential; a man of 
this rank often controlled the patron whom he pretended 
to serve. Some of them, after accumulating vast wealth, 
became intolerably overbearing. The tendency of eman- 
cipation, however, was to break down class feeling and 
privileges in favor of the social and legal equality of 
mankind. 

The imperial household, like that of any noble, depended 
on the labor of slaves and freedmen. In the morning the 
emperor received the magistrates, senators, courtiers, and 
friends. The lengthy ceremony ^Yas fatiguing alike to guests 
and host. In the same manner the nobles received their 
clients, who if poor were given their daily allowance of 
twenty-five asses, — the equivalent of a dinner; candidates 
for office came likewise to ask for the favor of the rich 
man's influence. Every morning, accordingly, the streets 
were thronged with these crowds of early callers. In the 
afternoon the master of a house entertained his friends 
at dinner, or perhaps accepted an invitation to dine out. 
Whereas in early times the Romans ate sparingly and 
drank little wine, we find them in the imperial period 
taxing to the utmost the resources of professional cooks 
in the preparation of dainty dishes, or ransacking the 
world for costly surprises with which to please their guests. 
Their dinners consisted of many and varied courses; they 
drank rare wines, and prolonged their revels till morning. 



Ainuseinents 



345 



Meanwhile they were entertained with music, pantomimes, 
and dancing girls. While some found their only pleasure 
in festive gayety, sensible persons, seeing the formalities 
of society demanding so large a share of their time, were 
glad to quit Rome for a period of quiet life at Tibur, 
Laurentum, or some other country retreat. In the hot 
season all who could afford it forsook the city, some for 




A Roman Meal 



their inland villas, others for the seaside resorts, the most 
famous of which was Baiae. 

The amusements of a people throw a clear light upon Amusements, 
their character. In the earliest times the laborious Romans 
contented themselves with few holidays and simple recrea- 
tions; but as their power and wealth increased, the num- 
ber and magnificence of their public festivals grew, till in 
the reign of Marcus Aurelius this imperial nation enjoyed 
every year a hundred and thirty-five holidays crowded with 



346 



Ro^nan Life 



The circus. 
P. 33. 



315- 



The chariot 
race. 



P. 139. 



The arena — 
gladiatorial 
shows. 



expensive entertainments. Among the most popular 
amusements were the chariot races in the Circus Maximus. 
From the time of the kings this building increased in size 
till under the Flavian emperors it could seat one hundred 
and fifty thousand spectators. From morning till evening, 
with few inter\"als for refreshment, a vast crowd watched 
with intense interest the succession of races which filled 
the programme of many a holiday. The people divided 
iato factions, red, white, blue, and green, named from the 
colors of the charioteers. Blue and green came to be the 
principal emblems: in the rivalry of the factions they 
represented, the populace now spent much of the excite- 
ment it had once vented in the political contests of the 
Forum. In the reign of Justinian this factional strife at 
Constantinople broke out in a riot which came near over- 
powering the government. 

Standing upright in his two-wheeled car, each driver 
grasped the reins of his four horses, which were harnessed 
abreast. At a signal from the aedile, four chariots began 
the race. As they whirled round the goal at either end, 
there was extreme danger of collision; often a car and 
team were overturned and the driver was killed. Mean- 
time the others sped on till they had made the seventh 
round, while all the spectators cheered their favorite colors 
and hooted rivals. The victorious driver and his horses 
received extravagant honors. 

Apart from burdening the taxpayers and encouraging 
idleness, the sports of the circus did little harm; those of 
the arena, on the other hand, brutalized the spectators. 
The Romans adopted gladiatorial shows from Etruria, in 
264 B.C. At first they exhibited these contests at funerals, 
doubtless with the idea of offering human blood to the 
spirits of the dead. It was not long, however, before the 




s 1 

D2 .5 



PQ 



TJie Arena 347 

bloody games were diverted to the amusement of the liv- 
ing. Schools for the training of gladiators were opened 
at Capua, Praeneste, and in several other places. The 
masters admitted as pupils slaves, prisoners of war, con- 
demned criminals, and sometimes citizens. Pupils under- 
went the most terrible discipline to strengthen their bodies, 
to inure them to pain, and to give them the necessary skill 
and courage. They developed the utmost variety in the 
use of weapons and modes of fighting, that the spectators 
might never find their entertainments monotonous. 

In the later republic the taste of the Romans for these Brutality of 
games became a passion. Candidates for office bought 
favor by exhibiting them ; and when single combats no 
longer sufficed, bands of gladiators were arrayed against 
each other. To celebrate the conquest of Dacia, Trajan 
sent ten thousand of them into the arena. Besides gladia- 
torial shows, the spectators in the Colosseum saw fights P. 235. 
between men and savage beasts ; to rouse a keener interest, 
the managers sometimes bound criminals to stakes and then 
let wild animals loose to tear in pieces the helpless victims. 
Statesmen commended these inhuman scenes on the ground 
that they accustomed the spectators to blood and prepared 
them to face death in battle. Seneca alone raised his voice 
against such cruelty, yet in vain. Gradually the provincials 
adopted these bloody sports from the capital and they con- 
tinued to demorahze the world till in the reign of Honorius 
Christianity brought them to an end. 

The theatre, if less brutal, was in other respects equally Theatres and 
depraved. The Romans of the imperial period would not 
endure tragedy ; and comedy, to succeed, had to be inde- 
cent and profane. The public baths, too, were morally 
pernicious. In fact the amusements of the Romans show 
them coarse and inhuman. In the late republic and early 



348 



Roman Life 



Death. 



Achieve- 
ments. 



empire, morality had probably reached its lowest depth in 
all the world's history. The reason is well known. From the 
beginning the Romans were without ideals, — a purely prac- 
tical nation, whom wealth and power served only to render 
gross. But there were some good men even in Rome, while 
in the rural districts of Italy, and still more in the provinces, 

hfe remained wholesome ; 
the good outweighed the 
evil. 

Whatever his charac- 
ter, a man had at some 
time to give up his busi- 
ness or pleasure, and die. 
Kinsmen and friends took 
part in the funeral pro- 
cession. The dancers, 
the music, the acting of 
the mimes, whose leader 
mimicked the deceased, 
the waxen masks worn by 
persons dressed to repre- 
sent the ancestors, the 
wailing of hired mourners, 
— all combined to make 
the ceremony at once sol- 
emn and grotesque. A 
near kinsman pronounced 
a eulogy on the deceased ; the corpse was burned on the 
funeral pyre ; and an urn containing the ashes was deposited 
in the family tomb. 

Individuals and nations pass away ; their achievements 
are the world's inheritance. Conspicuous among the works 
of the Romans, their art expressed their character with mar- 




CiNERARY Urn 

(Vatican Museum, Rome.) 



Art 349 

vellous truth. To their statesmen it served to glorify power 

and attract the people. By employing the round arch in 

vaults and domes, by adapting the Greek column to decora- Architecture. 

live purposes, and with the aid of most skilful engineering, 

they gave architecture a grandeur of design and a variety of 

combination which have made every product of the Orient 

and of Greece itself appear immature in comparison. The 

Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Baths, and the Basilica of 

Constantine testify to this superiority. These works " rest 

so heavily and with so much majesty upon the earth that Duruy, 

we may take them as a figure of Roman sway." Following ^^"^^' ^"i- 

p. 380. 
close upon the advance of sovereignty, Roman art has left 

relics in every province from the Euphrates to the north of 

England, each Work affected by local color, but all bearing 

the stamp of the imperial city. 

Sculpture expressed in no less degree the greatness of Sculpture, 
the empire. From the conquest of Greece to the reign 
of Augustus, Greek artists found in Roman patronage 
the motive for a renaissance of their art. The repro- 
duction and imitation of Hellenic masterpieces created a 
Roman school of sculpture, which produced a multitude 
of portraits, spirited and masterly, in dress and person- 
ality true to life. Far more characteristic, however, are 
the narrative reliefs traced on public buildings, triumphal 
arches, and columns, — chiselled picture-books of Roman 
victories. 

Painting experienced a similar growth. Roman fres- Painting, 
coes, surpassing those of Greece, afforded patterns for 
early Christian art, and inspired the masters of the Italian 
renaissance. 

Another achievement of Rome was character. Our hasty character, 
glance into the society of the wealthy at the time of their 
lowest depravity fails to do the nation justice. We go back 



350 



Roma7i Life 



in history to the era before the Punic Wars to find citizens 
whose superiors the world has not known. In that age Duty 
and Discipline were the great commandments to which the 
family and society, citizens and soldiers, yielded rehgious 
obedience. It was the heroic qualities of those men of 



n 


mimim 




, 


■ ■' ■. " " ' 




% 




;;» 


■. ,: ■-;'#■#' 


Ik 


. -4*^ .^^'■'^■•"l^M 


1 




i 

i "^ 




*'*^: ^^f ■ ^ 


'•, 


j»«ltel r-'^r- 


IS 


! 


"^■^■^K^'- 


jur^:; 


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! ~ ' "' ■ ' """ \ 



The Boy Hercules 

(Wall-painting, Pompeii.) 



old which made Rome great ; and after the society of the 
capital had become a hotbed of vice, the legions of Itahan 
peasants and of provincials kept alive for centuries longer 
the soldierly virtues of the early republic, — the discipline 
of Augustus and Hadrian came down to them from Cincin- 
natus and Papirius. Corrupt Rome produced individual 



BibliograpJiy 351 

characters grander than even the imaginary beings of the 
dim past. No mythical Brutus was so noble a patriot as 
either of the Gracchi ; no gods of early Rome could com- 
pare with Caesar and the best emperors in power and will 
to protect and bless their subjects. 

A further task of the Romans was to defend European Defenders 
civihzation. This they accomplished in their wars with the ^^ Europe 
Carthaginians, Parthians, Persians, and Arabs. It was of the 
utmost importance to the future of the world that Europe, 
instead of falling into dependence on Asia, should remain 
free to develop the genius of the West. Again, the Romans, 
after taking lessons of the Greeks, became teachers of the 
European nations. Though they were stern masters, often 
selfish and unscrupulous, the training they gave was most 
valuable. From them Europe learned the arts of peace as 
well as of war, — lessons in building good dwellings and 
substantial public works, in forming courts of justice and 
municipal governments, lessons in law, in administration, in 
obedience to authority, and finally intellectual education 
and the Christian rehgion. As Rome grew old and dechned 
in power, her influence extended and deepened ; and when 
she fell, the heritage of her civilization and discipline passed 
equally to Romans and Teutons — her children by birth and 
adoption. Grown to manhood, these sons of Rome form 
to-day the great family of Christian nations in Europe and 
the Americas. 

Reading 

Preston and Dodge, Private Life of the Ro77ians ; Pellison, Roman 
Life in Pliny^s Time ; Thomas, Roman Life under the Ccesars ; Inge, 
Society in Rome under the Cccsars ; Church, Roman Life in the Days 
of Cicero; Becker, Callus ; Rydberg, Roman Days ; Bury, Studenfs 
Roman Empire, ch. xxxi; Guhl and Koner, Life of the Creeks and 
Romans; Falke, Creece and Rome, their Life and Art ; Rheinhard, 



352 Roman Life 

Album des klassichen Altertums ; Mau, Pompeii, its Life and Art ; La 
Religion Romaine, bk. Ill; Granger, The Worship of the Rouians viewed 
in Relation to Roman Temperament ; Friedlander, Darstellungen aus 
der Sittengeschichte Roms, 3 vols.; Marquardt, Privatleben der Romer, 
in Marquardt and Mommsen, Hatidbuch der romischen AltertJmmer, 

2 vols. 



CHAPTER XVI 
HELPS TO THE STUDY OF ROMAN HISTORY 

Example of a Topical Outline 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION DURING THE 
FIRST PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC (509-264 B.C.) 

I. General Character. 

1. The number of magistrates increases. 

2. The plebeians win equal rights with the patricians. 

3. While in form the government becomes democratic, in fact the grada- 

tions of rank and privilege multiply. 

II. Social Ranks. 

1. The patricians — nobles. 

a. Probable origin — leadership brings wealth and honor; these qualities 

when inherited are the basis of nobility. 

b. Other theories of their origin. 

(i) That they are the original settlers (Mommsen). 
(2) That they are conquerors (Ihne). 

c. Original rights and duties. 

(i) To sit in the senate as well as vote in the assemblies. 

(2) To be priests, judges, magistrates, and commanders of the army. 

(3) To serve in the cavalry; a patrician rarely serves on foot. 

(4) To enjoy the use (^possessio) of the public land. 

(5) To intermarry among themselves (Jus co7iubi')\ to buy, sell, and 

make contracts {ins commerci'). 

2. Plebeians — commons. 

a. Probable origin — simply the people as distinguished from their leaders, 
who become nobles. 
2A 353 



354 Helps 

b. Other theories of their origin. 
(i) AHen residents (Mommsen). 
(2) Conquered subjects (Ihne), 

c. Original rights and duties, 

(i) To vote in the assemblies. 

(2) To intermarry with one another l5ut not with the patricians. 

(3) To buy, sell, and make contracts, 

(4) To serve in the infantry. 

(5) To labor on the public works. 
Clients. 

a. Origin — plebeians who have placed themselves under the protection 

of a patron. 
/', Public rights — the same as those of the plebeians. 

c. Private rights {ins commerci and conulu) — under the guardianship of 

the patron. 

d. Relation between patron and client. 
(i) Xature of the relation. 

(ji) Like that of parent and child. 

((^) Religious sanction — those who offend are accursed. 

((t) Hereditan,-. 

(2) Patron protects; supersnses business; helps in need, 

(3) Client follows his patron in war (nearly obsolete) ; votes for him; 

works in his field or brings gifts. 

(4) Mutual duty — not to vote or testiiy against each other. 
Slaves — at first few; rapidly increase as a result of successful wars. 



III. Assemblies. 



Comitia curiata. 

a. Composed of all citizens meeting under a consul or other high 

magistrate. 
Ik Voting by head within the curia, after which each of the 30 curiae 

casts a single vote. 

c. Controlled by the magistrate, the auspices, and the sanction of the 

senate {patrivn auctoritas). 

d. Its functions soon become purely formal. 
Comitia centuriata. 

a. Composed of all citizens meeting under presidency of a consul or 

other high magistrate. 

b. Voting by head within the century, after which each of the 193 cen- ■ 

turies casts a single vote. The knights and wealthiest class 
command a majority of votes. 



Outline of the Constitution 355 

c. Controlled by the president, the auspices, and (before 339 B.C.) the 

patrum auctoritas. 

d. Chief assembly of the early republic — functions : — 

(i) Legislation; election of consuls, censors, and praetors. 

(2) Declaration of aggressive wars; ratification of treaties, 

(3) Appeals from the decision of magistrates in capital cases. 
Comitia tributa. 

a. Organized in 471; composed of all landowners; probably after 339, 

of all plebeian landowners; after 312, of all plebeians. 

b. Each tribe casts a vote; 21 tribes in 471; gradually increases to 35 

(241). Under presidency of tribunes, it passes plebi scita (reso- 
lutions of the plebs), and elects plebeian officers; under the consul 
or praetor (after 449), it elects lower magistrates (V. 11), and 
rarely passes laws (Jeges). 

c. Competence. 

(i) Validity of resolutions. 

(«) 471-449 — resolutions binding on the plebeians only. 

{b) 449-287 — resolutions passed with the consent of the senate 

{senatus consultufn), binding on all the citizens. 
(<r) After 287 — the senatus constdtuui unnecessary. 

(2) Elects lower magistrates (V. ii). 

(3) Receives appeals from the decision of magistrates in case of fines. 

(4) After 287 the chief legislative assembly (^plebi scita). 

d. Controlled by pr iding magistrates and (449-287) by the senatus 

consultuj)i. 



IV. Senate. 



1. Composition and organization. 

a. Members chosen by the consuls; after the Ovinian Law (339-312?) 

by the censors; exclusively patrician till about 400. 

b. Under presidency of the consuls, who invite the members to speak in 

the order of their official rank< (i) consulares (ex-consuls); 
(2) prtciorii (ex-pr^ietors) ; (3) (cdilicii (ex-ajdiles). (4) The 
pedarii (who have filled no curule office) simply vote. 

2. Functions. 

a. As an independent body, — 
(i) Filling the interregnum. 

(2) Granting the patrum auctoritas, which becomes a mere form 
before the end of the period. 
/'. As a dependent (advisory) body, — 

Issuing the se^attis consultuin, which constantly grows in im})orlance 
till it becomes the chief instrument of the senate. 



356 Helps 

V. Magistrates. 

1. Two consuls. 

a. Original functions. 

(i) Presidency of senate and assembles; initiative in legislation. 

(2) Judges. 

(3) Taking the census, before 443; choosing senators, before the 

Ovinian Law. 

(4) Command of the army. 

(5) General administration. 

h. Large authority gradually diminished by the creation of new offices. 

2. Dictator — appointed by a consul to take absolute control in time of 

danger; term limited to six months; assisted by a master of horse 
{jnagister eqiiittinC). 

3. Treasurers (^quicstores cerarii) — at tirst assistants of the consuls; become 

independent magistrates about 449. 

4. Tribunes of the plebs. 

a. Two instituted in 493; four after 471; later ten. Elected by the 

curiae; after 471 by the tribes. 

b. Functions. 

(i) Protection of individual plebeians (^auxiliiwi). 

(2) Presidency of the plebeian assembly. 

(3) Power to fine, imprison, or put to death any one who interferes 

with them in the exercise of their duties. 

c. Assistants — the plebeian aediles. 

d. At first of little importance, they gradually acquire a power superior 

in some respects to that of the consuls. 

5. Decemvirs for codifying the laws — an extraordinary legislative board 

which takes the place of all other magistrates in 451-449. 

6. Military tribunes with consular power, — more briefly, consular tribunes, 

444-367- 
a. The number varies from three to six; elected instead of consuls when- 
ever the senate so decrees. 
/'. P'unctions — the same as those of the consuls; inferior in official rank. 

7. Two censors. 

a. Instituted in 443; elected every five years as a rule; complete their 

work in eighteen months. 
- b. Functions. 

(i) Census-taking; they assign every citizen to his tribe and class; 
after the Ovinian Law, they revise the senate list. 

(2) Building public works; letting out p^ublic contracts. 

(3) Censorship of morals. 



Outline of the Co7tstitiition 



357 



8. Two military quaestors — instituted 421, to take charge of the military 

chest. 

9. Praetor. 

a. Instituted 367. 

b. Functions. 

(i) Judge in private cases. 

(2) Head of the government during the absence of the consuls. 

(3) Rarely commander of an army. 
10. Two curule aediles, 

a. Instituted 367. 

b. Functions. 

(i) Supervision of streets, public buildings, markets, and games. 
(2) Power to fine for offences against order (police court). 
Classification of magistrates. 



II 



curule 
magistrates 



non-curule 
magistrates 



r 



higher 
ijnajores^ 



lower 
(^Diinores) 



{ dictator 

consuls 

censors 

praetor 

curule aediles 

qucestors 

tribunes of the plebs 
I plebeian cediles 



< 



All but the dictator elected by the 
comitia centuriata ; all but the 
censors have the ii/iperin//!. 

Elected in the comi- 
tia tril)uta ; they 
have not the ?w- 
periiiiii . 



VI. Development of Plebeian Rights. 

1. Condition, 509-493. 

a. Co7istitutionally they possess all the rights of citizenship except the 
right to hold oflices and priesthoods and sit in the senate. 

/'. In fact thty are withcnit the protection of the laws and are falling into 
serfdom. 

2. 493-449 — the tribunes of the plebs try to secure to the plebeians the pri- 

vate rights granted them by the c(mstitution. 

a. By protecting individual plebeians from oppression. 

b. By a more thorough organization of the plebs (comitia tril:)uta, 471). 

c. By striving to provide the i)lebeians with lands. 

(t. By the codification of the laws (accomplished, 451-449).- 

3. 449-367 — the tribunes, representing the wealthier plebeian families, strive 

for the right to hold magistracies; their means to this end are : — 
a. 'J'he Canuleian Law, 445, permitting intermarriage between the two 

ranks. 
li. The consular tribunate, 444-367, legally open to plebeians. 



358 Helps 

c. Opening the quiestorship to plebeians, 421 ; first plebeian quaestors, 409. 

d. Admission of plebeians to the college of " Keepers of the Sibylline 

Books," 368. 

e. The Licinian-Sextian Laws, which provide that one consul must be a 

plebeian. 
367-287. 

a. The plebeians continue to gain admission to offices, 
(i) Dictatorship, 356. 

(2) Censorship, 351, 

(3) Prgetorship, 337. 

(4) Curule aedileship, 304. 

(5) College of augurs and of pontiffs, 300. 

b. The assemblies become constitutionally independent of the senate, 
(i) The comitia centuriata, through the Publilian Law, 339, 

(2) The comitia tributa, through the Hortensian Law, 287. 

c. Enrolment of the landless plebeians in the tribes, 312. 

d. Result — constitutionally the government is a pure democracy; in fact 

the gradations of rank and privilege have multiplied during the 
period, — the state is more aristocratic than before : — 



RANKS IN THE ROMAN-ITALIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM, 264. 

1. Senators, among whom are several official ranks (IV. i /;.). 

2. Knights. 

3. Members of the country tribes. 

4. Members of the city tribes. 

5. Citizens without the right to vote. 

6. Latins. 

7. Italian allies. 

8. Gallic subjects. 

9. Slaves. 



Studies 359 



Studies 
CHAPTER I 

Compare the migration of the Italians into Italy with the migra- 
tion of the Greeks into Greece. How were ,the Greeks and 
Italians related ? Compare their early life and institutions. 

Compare the physical features of Italy with those of Greece (see 

maps). How far do the situation and physical features of these 

. countries explain their different histories? Had the harbors 

and best lands of Italy been on the east coast, what difference 

would this have made in the history of the peninsula? 

Write a paper on the " Etruscans "; on the " Greeks in Italy" 
(bibliography, p. 1 6). 

Describe the Po valley; the character and customs of the Gauls 
(Botsford, Siory of Rojiie, ch. i). 

Make a topical outline of this chapter (see model outline, p. 353). 



CHAPTER II 

1. Carefully separate the history from the myths; give an account of 

the regal period without referring to the myths. 

2. Show how the city on the Palatine developed from the tribal and 

village life described in Chapter I. 

3. Trace on the map of Rome the growth of the city during the pe- 

riod of kings. Where were the various public works of this 
period? 

4. Write a paper on the " Social Ranks." 

5. Compare the earliest religious ideas of the Romans with those of 

Greece (P)Otsford, Greece, p. 15). 

6. What class of people were most likely to be displeased with the 

rule of the kings? If a revolution should occur, what class 
would profit most by it ? 

7. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



CHAPTER HI 

I. From the story of the battle of Lake Rcgillus, what information 
may be derived regarding (i) the dictator, (2) the knights, 
(3) the mode of fighting? 



36o Helps 

2. From the map of the Vicinity of Rome, describe the growth of 

Rome's territory to the conquest of Veii; describe the location 
of all the races named on the map. 

3. How does the story of the siege of Veii (Botsford, Story of Rome, 

ch. iii) illustrate the belief of the Romans in omens and 
oracles? 

4. Trace the development of the Roman army from the tribal age to 

the end of the first period of the republic (264). 

5. What wars of the period covered by this chapter belong to the 

conflict between the plain and the hills? 

6. Write a paper on the "Samnites, their Country, Life, and Institu- 

tions." 

7. Compare the colonies of Rome with those of Greece. 

8. Describe the Roman organization of acquired territory. 

9. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 

CHAPTER IV 

1. How did the change from monarchy to republic affect (i) the 

magistrates, (2) the senate, (3) the people? 

2. Make a table of the assemblies, showing the composition, organiza- 

tion, and functions of each. Which was the most popular, and 
why? 

3. Make a table of the magistrates, showing the date of institution 

and the functions of each. 

4. Give an account of the relations between the patricians and plebe- 

ians during this period. 

5. Write a paper on " Marcus Manlius "; on the " Decemvirs "; com- 

pare the myth of Appius Claudius (Botsford, Story of Rorne^ 
ch. iv) with the account given in this history. 

6. Write a paper on the " Political Condition of Italy in 264" (cf. end 

of Ch. Ill) ; draw a map of Italy, distinguishing the various 
classes of communities. 

7. What material do you find in Chapters III, IV, and the corre- 

sponding chapters of Botsford, Story of Rome, for a paper on 
the " Life and Character of the Romans " of this period? 

8. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 

CHAPTER V 

I. Write a paper on the " Life and Institutions of the Carthaginians "; 
QO the "Carthaginians in Sicily" (bibliography, p. 127). 



Studies 361 

2. Debate the question whether it was the duty of Rome to begin the 

First Punic War; also, whether her policy of acquiring territory 
outside of Italy was wise. 

3. Write an account of the public career of Flaminius; of Scipio 

Africanus (bibliography, p. 127). 

4. Give an account of Hannibal's crossing the Alps; of the battle of 

Lake Trasimene (Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. v). 

5. Why did Hannibal fail to conquer Rome? 

6. Why did Rome destroy Corinth and Carthage? 

7. What provinces did Rome acquire during this period (264-133), 

and in what order? Were subject allies or provinces more 
serviceable to Rome? 

8. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 

CHAPTER VI 

1. Why did not the Romans extend their federal policy to territory 

acquired outside of Italy? Were they wise in adopting the 
provincial system? 

2. Write a paper on the " Administration of the Provinces " (see 

especially Arnold). 

3. Compare the expansion of the Roman power with that of England 

and of the United States. What were the effects of the Roman 
conquests on the senate and people of Rome ? 

4. Write a paper on the " Life and Character of Cato " (bibliography, 

p. 150). 

5. What was the condition of Italy and the provinces which at the 

close of this period called loudly for reform? What was the 
condition of the constitution and of the privileged classes at 
Rome which made reform practically impossible? 

6. What privileges and what degree of political influence did each of 

the following classes enjoy toward the end of this period : nobles, 
knights, city plebs, country plebs, Latins, and Italians? In 
what way were the nobles and the city rabble attached to each 
other? 

7. What effects had the custom of furnishing the populace with cheap 

or free grain (i) on those who received the favor, (2) on the 
Italian peasants? 

8. What changes took place in the life and character of the Romans 

during this period (Chs. V, VI; Botsford, Story of Rome, chs. 
V, vi)? 

9. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



362 Helps 



CHAPTER VII 

1. Give an account of the early life, the education, and the public 

career of Tiberius Gracchus (Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. 
vii). 

2. Write a histor}' of the Roman peasants (not of the whole plebeian 

body) from the earliest times to the death of Gaius Gracchus. 

3. What prevented the Gracchi from adopting the methods of reform 

which Licinius and other tribunes of earlier time had pursued ? 
Did circumstances justify the methods of the Gracchi? 

4. Throughout the period treated by Chapters VII, VIII, the prin- 

ciples and institutions of the imperial government were 
developing. WTiat did the Gracchi contribute to this develop- 
ment ? What did Marius contribute ? 

5. Make a topical outline of the army organization from the earliest 

times to the completion of the reforms of Marius. 

6. What constitutional law was violated by the frequent reelection 

of Marius to the consulship? 

7. What causes of discontent had been growing among the Italians 

from the time they fell under Roman rule to their revolt ? Are 
there any reasons for believing that they would have founded 
a better state than Rome? 

8. Why did Rome grow more and more illiberal in bestowing the 

citizenship on aliens? 

9. After the Social War, how did the various classes of people in 

Italy — nobles, city plebs, peasants, etc. — entertain the idea 
of monarchy? Why should some support the existing govern- 
ment more than others? 

10. What is your estimate of each of the measures of Sulla? What 

did he contribute to the imperial government (of. 4) ? 

11. Write a history of the dictatorship to the death of Sulla. 

12. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 

CHAPTER VIII 

1. In what respects may we regard Pompey as the successor of Sulla? 

Why did the Romans love Pompey (Botsford, Story of Rome, 
ch. viii) ? 

2. Write a paper on the "First Triumvirate " (bibliography, p. 202). 

3. What provinces did Rome acquire in the period from 133 to 27 

and in what order (map for Chs. VII-IX) ? 



Studies 363 

4. Write a biography of Cicero? What is your estimate of his pub- 

lic character and poHcy? What light do the writings of Cicero 
throw on the government of the provinces (Botsford, Story of 
Rome, ch. viii) ? 

5. Why was the rule of one man, like Caesar, less oppressive to the 

Roman world than the aristocracy had been? 

6. Compare Caesar and Gaius Gracchus as reformers. Why were 

both killed? 

7. How far is Shakspere's Julius Caesar historically true? Does it 

show a partisan bias? W^rite a review, or criticism, of Davis, A 
Friend of Cccsar. 

8. Compare the First and Second Triumvirates. 

9. Write a sketch of the literature of the republic. 

10. Why did the republic fall? 

11. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



CHAPTER IX 

1. What provinces did Rome acquire during the reign of Augustus 

and in what order (map for Chs. VH-IX) ? 

2. In what respects was the imperial government an improvement on 

the republic? What class, or classes, lost by the fall of the 
republic ? What classes gained ? 

3. Compare the government of Augustus with that of Csesar. 

4. Narrate the achievements of Augustus from his own account of 

them (Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. ix). 

5. Write a paper on the " Literature of the Augustan Age "; on the 

"Pretorians" (bibliography, p. 223). 

6. Compare the public works of Rome with those of Greece (cf. Ch. 

XV). 

7. Make a topical outline of the development of the principles and 

institutions of the imperial government from the time of the 
Gracchi to the death of the Emperor Tiberius. 

8. Write a paper on the " Character of Tiberius," drawing your 

material from his speeches and well-known public acts. Care- 
fully exclude the imaginings of Tacitus and others in regard 
to this emperor's motives and secret deeds (Tacitus, Velleius 
Paterculus, and Suetonius). 

9. What republican institutions survived under Augustus? 
10. Make a toi)ical outline of this chapter. 



364 Helps 



CHAPTER X 

1. In what respects was the reign of Claudius an epoch in the history 

of the empire? 

2. Give an account of the relations between the prince and the 

senate from the. accession of Augustus to the death of Domi- 
tian. In what ways was the senate serviceable to the prince? 

3. Write a review, or criticism, of Bulwer's Last Days of Pompeii. 

4. What improvements came to the provinces under the Julian, Clau- 

dian, and Flavian emperors? Why did Tiberius and Domitian 
wish the provinces to be well governed? Why did the nobles 
generally dislike an emperor who protected the provinces? 

5. Discuss Roman education and morals under the Julian, Claudian, 

and Flavian princes (cf. Ch. XV). 

6. Compare Vespasian and Augustus. 

7. Tell the story of the eruption of Vesuvius given in one of Pliny's 

Lettej-s (Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. x). 

8. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



CHAPTER XI 

1. What were the causes of the good feeling and prosperity of this 

period (96-180)? 

2. From Pliny's Letters (Botsford, Story of Rome, ch. xi), what do 

you learn of the condition and government of a province ? How 
did Rome benefit the countries which she subdued? Were the 
advantages of Roman rule greater than the disadvantages? 

3. .What acquisitions of territory did Rome make between the death 

of Augustus and the death of Trajan (map for Chs. X-XII) ? 
Which of these did she continue to hold long after Trajan? 
Why did not the emperors acquire more territory? 

4. What countries were civilized before they came under Roman rule ? 

What countries were barbarian? ^Vhat kind of civilization did 
Rome give the conquered barbarians? 

5. What changes took place in the imperial constitution between the 

accession of Augustus and the death of Marcus Aurelius? 

6. Write a sketch of Christianity from its origin to the death of Mar- 

cus Aurelius. 

7. If you had been a provincial, which would you have preferred, 

the republic or empire? If you had been a resident of Rome, 
which would you have preferred ? Give your reasons. 



Studies 365 

8. To what extent did the condition of slaves improve under the 

empire (cf. Ch. XV) ? 

9. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



CHAPTER XII 

1. What elements of weakness and decay existed in the empire before 

Commodus? What new causes of decline were added in the 
period treated in this chapter? 

2. Give an account of the relations between the emperor and the 

senate from Augustus to Aurelian. 

3. Trace the steps by which the provinces became Roman in language, 

civilization, and political rights. What were the influences of 
the provinces on Rome? 

4. Write a paper on " Septimius Severus"; on " Palmyra " (bibli- 

ography, p. 288). 

5. Compare the century of revolution between Marcus Aurelius and 

Diocletian with the century of revolution from republic to 
empire. 

6. In what respects was the government of Diocletian an improvement 

on that of the Good Emperors? What can be said in justifica- 
tion of Diocletian's despotism? 

7. Write a history of Christianity from the death of Marcus Aurelius 

to the death of Constantine. 

8. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



CHAPTER XIII 

1. Why did the Eastern branch of the empire continue so long after 

Constantino? Why did the Western branch fall so soon? 

2. Write a paper on "Julian" (biljliography, p. 309). 

3. (Jive an account of the relations between the Germans and Rome 

from the time of Marius to the l^reaking (.)f the Danubian 
frontier by the Goths. 

4. ('ompare the life and institutions of the early Germans with those 

of the early Greeks and Romans. 

5. Why did the Greeks and Romans become civilized before the other 

European nations? 

6. Describe the location of the various invading races of barbarians 

as they were about 476. What was the relation of their chiefs 
to Rome before this date? 



366 



Helps 



7. Were there two empires from 395 to 476, or two branches of one 

empire ? 

8. What did the Germans give the empire and what did they receive 

from it ? 

9. Write a paper on the Huns (bibhography, p. 309). 
10. Make a topical outHne of this chapter. 

CHAPTER XIV 

1. How does this period differ from the preceding? 

2. Compare Theodoric the Ostrogoth and Clovis. 

3. How far did the reign of Justinian benefit Europe? 

4. Write a paper on Mohammedan art and science (bibhography, 

P- 334)- 

5. To what extent did Roman civilization in Britain survive the 

Anglo-Saxon conquest ? What ruins of Roman works may still 
be found in England? 

6. Name in their order the great empires of the East contemporary 

with Rome. Review briefly the relations of each with Rome. 

7. Write a summary of each of the great periods of Roman history 

(753-509> 509-264 B.C., etc.). 

8. Make a topical outline of this chapter. 



B.C. 

Remote past 

753(?) 
753(?)-509 



Events in Chronological Order 

The Tribal Age (before the founding uf cities). 

The Founding of Rome. 

The Regal Period — Prehistoric. 



REPUBLIC 

jog~364 Fir si Period of the Republic — 

(a) Rome becofnes supreme in Italy. 

(b) The plebeians ivin their rights, 

509 The first consuls. 

First treaty between Rome and Carthage. 
498 The first dictator. 

496 Battle of Lake Regillus (mythical). 

495 The twenty-first tribe formed. 

494—493 First secession of the plebs. 



\ 



Events 367 

B.C. 

493 First plebeian tribunes. 

Treaty with the Latins. 

486 Treaty with the Hernicans. 

Agrarian bill of Spurius Cassias. 

471 The comitia tributa instituted. 

The plebeian tribunes increased to four. 

462 Proposal of Terentilius for the codihcation of the laws. 

457 The plebeian tribunes increased to ten. 

451-449 The decemvirs. 

449 Second secession of the plebs. 

The Valerian-Horatian Laws. 

445 The Canuleian Law. 

444 First consular tribunes. 

443 First censors. 

431 Battle of Mt. Algidus. 

421 First military quaestors.. 

409 Plebeians first elected to the quaestorship. 

405(?)-396 Siege of Veil. 

400 A plebeian first elected to the consular tribunate. 

390 Sack of Rome by the Gauls. 

387 The tribes increased to twenty-five. 

367 The Licinian-Sextian Laws. 

366 First plebeian consul. 

thirst praetor. 

First curule sediles. 

358 The tribes increased to twenty-seven. 

356 First plebeian dictator. 

354 Treaty with Samniuni. 

351 First plebeian censor. 

348 Second treaty with Carthage. 

343-341 First Samnite War. 

340-338 Latin War. 

339 The Publilian Laws. 

337 First plebeian praitor. 

332 The tribes increased to twenty-nine. 

326-304 Second Samnite War. 

321 Disaster at the Caudine Pass. 

318 The tribes increased to thirty-one. 

312-308 Appius Claudius CaBCus censor. 

300 First plebeian augurs and pontiffs. 

299 The tribes increased to thirty-three. 



368 



Helps 



B.C. 

298-290 Third Samnite War. 

295 Battle of Sentinum. 

287 Third secession of the plebs. 

The Hortensian Law. 
281-272 War with Tarentum, including the 

280-275 ^"^"^ '^^'ith P)Trhus. 

280 Battle of Heraclea. 

279 Battle of Asculum. 

275 Battle of Beneventum. 

272 Surrender of Tarentum. 

266 Conquest of the Gauls south of the Rubicon. 

Rome mistress of all Italy south of the Rubicon. 

264-jjj Second Period of the Republic — 

(a) Expansion of the Roman pojvcr outside of Italy. 

(b) Groxvth of plutocracy, 

264-241 First Punic War — for the possession of Sicily. 

260 Battle off Mylae. 

256 Great battle off Ecnomus; Regulus invades Africa. 

249 Defeat of Claudius at Drepana. 

247 Hamilcar Barca takes command. 

241 Battle of the .Tgatian Islands. 

Peace between Rome and Carthage. 

The tribes increased to thirty-five. 
(?) The comitia centuriata reformed. 

241-238 Mercenary war in Africa. 

237 Hamilcar goes to Spain. 

232 Agrarian Law of Gaius Flaminius. 

229-228 First Illyrian War. 

227 The praetors increased to four. 

225-222 Gallic War. 

219 Second Illyrian War. 

Hannibal takes Saguntum. 
2I8-20I Second Punic War. 

218-213 The Scipios conquer Spain. 

218 Hannibal crosses the Alps ; battle of the Ticinus 

and of the Trebia. 
217 Battle of Lake Trasimene. 

216 Battle of Cannse. 

215-205 First Macedonian War. 



\ 



Events 3^9 



B.C. 



215 Syracuse allies herself with Hannibal. 

212 " The Scipios beaten and killed in Spain. 

Syracuse taken by Marcellus. 
211 Capua taken by the Romans. 

211-206 Publius Cornelius Scipio (afterward Africanus) recon- 

quers Spain. 
207 Battle of the Metaurus. 

202 Battle of Zama. 

2DI Peace between Rome and Carthage. 

200-196 Second Macedonian War. 

197 Battle of Cynoscephalae. 

Two Spanish provinces organized; the praetors in- 
creased to six. 
192-189 Asiatic War. 

183 Battle of Magnesia. 

1 71-167 Third Macedonian War. 

168 Battle of Pydna. 

149-146 Third Punic War. 

146 Publius Cornelius Scipio .ffimilianus destroys 

Carthage. 

Mummius destroys Corinth. 

Macedonia and Africa become Roman jirovinces. 
143-133 War with Numantia. 

I38(?)-I32 First Slave War in Sicily. 

^33~-7 Third Period of the Reptiblic — the ret'ohitioit fro?n 

republic to empire, 
ijj-yg First epoch of the revolution — from plutocracy to 

militarism. 

133 Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus tribune of the plebs. 

Numantia destroyed. 

The province of Asia organized. 
123-122 Gaius Sempronius Gracchus tribune of the plebs. 

119 Gaius Marius tribune of the plebs. 

1 13-105 The Cimbri and Teutons invade Gaul. 

1 12-106 The Jugurthine War. 

102 Marius defeats the Teutons at Aquse Sextioe. 

loi Marius and Catulus defeat the Cimbri at Vercellse. 

100 Saturninus tribune of the plebs ; Glaucia praetor. 

gi-88 The Social War. 

2 B 



370 Helps 

B.C. 

88 Sulpicius tribune of the plebs. 

88-84 First War with Mithridates. 

87-84 Cinna leader of the popular party at Rome. 

83-81 Second War with Mithridates. 

83-82 Civil war between Sulla and the popular party. 

82 Sulla's proscriptions. 

82-79 Sulla dictator. 

yg-2y Second epoch of the revolution — the military power in 
conflict with the republic. 

76 Pompey goes to Spain. 

74-63 Third War with Mithridates. 

73-71 War with Spartacus. 

72 Sertorius murdered. 

70 Pompey and Crassus consuls ; Sulla's constitution 

overthrown. 

67 The Gabinian Law. 

66 The Manilian Law. 

63 Cicero consul ; conspiracy of Catiline. 

60-53 The First Triumvirate. 

58-50 Conquest of Gaul. 

56 Conference at Luca; triumvirate renewed. 

53 Battle of CarrhtB. 

49-45 Civil war between Caesar and the republic. 

48 Battle of Pharsalus. 

47 Cassar in Egypt ; battle of Zela. 

46 Battle of Thapsus. 

45 Battle of Munda; Caesar supreme. 

44 Caesar murdered. 

44-31 Civil Wars. 

43-27 Second Triumvirate; in 36 Lepidus drops from the 

board; after 31 Octavianus is sole triumvir. 

42 Battles of Philippi. 

31 Battle of Actium ; Octavianus supreme. 

EMPIRE 

2y B.c.-^/ A.D. Dyarchy ; the Julian emperors. 

27 B.C. Octavianus receives the title Augustus. 

27B.C.-14A.D. Augustus emperor. 

12-9 B.C. Campaigns of Drusus in Germany. 



Events 371 

A.D. 

9 Overthrow of Varus by the Germans. 

14-37 Tiberius emperor. 

15-16 Campaigns of Germanicus in Germany. 

26 Tiberius retires to Capri. 

37-41 Gaius Caesar Caligula emperor. 

*4i-g6 From Dyarchy to Moiiai'chy ; the Claudian and Flavian 

emperors. 

41-54 Claudius emperor. 

43 Conquest of Britain begun. 

54-68 Nero emperor. 

68-69 Military revolution; three emperors — Galba, Otho, 

and Vitellius — in rapid succession. 
69-79 Vespasian emperor. 

70 Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus. 

79-81 Titus emperor. 

79 Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed by an eruption of 

Vesuvius. 
81-96 Domitian emperor. 

85 Conquest of Britain completed by Agricola. 

g6-i8o Liiiiited Motiarchy ; the five " Good Emperors.'''' 

96-98 Nerva emperor. 

98-117 Trajan emperor. 

101-106 Conquest of Dacia. 

115-117 Trajan's campaigns in the East. 

1 17-138 Hadrian emperor. 

138-161 Antoninus Pius emperor. 

1 61-180 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus emperor. 

167-175 I'irst War with the Marcomanni. 

178-180 Second War with the Marcomanni. 

180-JJ'/ Gro7vth of absolute monarchy ; from Comu/odns to 

Constantine. 

180-192 Commodus emperor. 

193 Pertinax emperor; Julianus emperor. 

193-211 Septimius Severus emperor. 

211-217 Caracalla emperor. 

All freemen in the empire become Roman citizens. 



372 Helps 

A.D. 

217-218 Macrinus emperor. 

2 1 8-222 Elagabalus emperor, 

222-235 Alexander Sevenis emperor. 

226 The new Persian empire founded. 

235-23S Maximinus emperor. 

238-243 Gordian emperor. 

241-243 Philip colleague of Gordian. 

244-249 Philip sole emperor. 

249-231 Decius emperor. 

251-253 Gallus emperor; kills his colleague Hostilianus. 

253 .ilmihanus emperor; deposed by Valerian, wh-j takes 
his son Gallienus as colleague. 

260 Valerian taken captive by Sapor, king of Persia. 
The so-called Thirty Tyrants. 

268-270 Claudius emperor. 

270-275 Aurelian emperor. 

272 Zenobia conquered. 

275-276 Tacitus emperor. 

276-282 Probus emperor. 

2S2-284 Carus emperor. 

284-305 Diocletian emperor. 

Reorganization of the empire. 

2S5-305 Maximian colleague of Diocletian. 

305-306 Constantius and Galerius emperors. 

306 Severus succeeds Constantius as colleague of Ga- 
lerius; the latter continues to reign till his death, 

311- 
306-324 A succession of civil wars, which end in making Con- 

stantine the Great sole emperor. 
313 Edict of Milan granting the Christians toleration. 

324-337 Constantine sole emperor. 

Further reorganization of the empire. 
325 The council at Nicsea. 

337-476 The invasions of the barbarians ; the dissolution of the 

empire in the West. 

337 Constantine, Constantius, and Constans succeed their 

father Constantine the Great. 
355 Julian colleague of Constantius. 

357 Juhan defeats the Alemanni. 



Events 3/3 



A.D. 



361-363 Julian sole emperor. 

363-364 Jovian emperor. 

364-375 Valentinian emperor in the West. 

364-378 His brother Valens emperor in the East. 

375 Valentinian II and Gratian emperors in the West. 

376 The Visigoths cross the Danube. 

378 Defeat and death of Valens at Hadrianople. 

379 Theodosius emperor in the East. 

383 Maximus cbUeague of Valentinian II. 

394-395 Theodosius sole emperor. 

395 Death of Theodosius ; division of the empire between 

his sons, Arcadius and Honorius ; Arcadius emperor 
in the East and Honorius in the West. 

402 Alaric invades Italy; battle of Pollentia. 

406 Vandals, Sueves, and others invade Gaul. 

408 Theodosius II emperor in the East, 

408-410 Alaric besieges and plunders Rome. 

410 The Vandals, and Sueves settle in Spain. 

414 Ataulf marries Placidia. 

418 The Visigoths settle in Gaul. 

425 Valentinian III emperor in the West. 

429 The Vandals invade Africa. 

449 The Saxons under Hengist and Horsa invade Britain. 

450 Marcian emperor in the East. 

451 Attila the Hun invades Gaul ; battle of Chalons. 

455 Maximus emperor in the West. 
Avitus emperor in the West. 

456 Pafrician Ricimer overthrows Avitus and makes Mar- 

jorian emperor. 
Leo I emperor in the East. 
461 Ricimer makes Sever us emperor in the West. 

467 Ricimer makes Anthemius emperor. 

472 Ricimer makes Olybrius emperor; Ricimer and Oly- 

brius die. 

473 Glycerius emperor in the West. 

474 Leo II, then Zeno, emperor in the East. 
Julius Nepos emperor in the West. 

475 Romulus "Augustulus" emperor in the West. 

476 Romulus " Augustulus " deposed ; reunion of the 

East and West ; Odoacer patrician and king of 
Italy. 



374 Helps 

A.D. 

4'/6-8oo The new German nations to the founding of the empire 

of Charlemagne. 

477 Death of Gaiseric. 

486 Clovis conquers the Romans at Soissons. 

489-493 Theodoric conquers Odoacer. 

491 Anastasius I emperijr. 

493-553 Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy. 

496 Clovis accepts Christianity. 

511 Death of Clovis. 

518 Justin I emperor. 

526 Death of Theodoric the Ostrogoth. 

527-565 Justinian I emperor. 

533~534 Belisarius conquers the Vandals. 

535-54^ Belisarius conquers Italy. 

541-553 Revolt and subjugation of the Ostrogoths. 

5^5~57^ Justin II emperor. 

568 The Lombards invade Italy. 

582 ]Maurice emperor. 

590 Gregory the Great becomes pope. 

.602 Phocas emperor. 

610-641 Heraclius emperor. 

622 Mohammed flees from Mecca to Medina (the Hegira). 

628-638 Dagobert king of the Franks. 

711 The Mohammedans invade Spain. 

717 Leo III (the Isaurian) emperor. 

732 Battle of Poitiers (Tours). 

751 Pippin king of the Franks. 

768 Charles and Carloman succeed their father, Pippin. 

771 Charles the Great sole king of the Franks. 

7S0 Constantine VI emperor; Irene regent. 

797-802 Irene empress. 

800 Charles the Great crowned emperor in the West. 

Bibliography 

For the convenience of purchasers, the titles of works on 
Roman history are here arranged, according to their relative 
importance,^ in ''libraries.'' Considerable reduction in these 
prices can often be obtained. 

1 For the vahie of the principal works, see Adams, Manual of Historical 
Literature (Harpers). 



Bibliography 375 



I. The Smallest Library 

TWENTY VOLUMES 

Allcroft and Masom, Early P?'incipaie. New York : Hinds and 

Noble. ($.60.) 
Arnold, Roinan Systetn of Provincial Administration. New 

York : Macmillan. (Out of print.) 
Beesly, Gracchi^ Maritcs, and Stdla. New York : Scribners.' 

($1.00.) 
Botsford, The Story of Rome as Greeks and Roniajis tell it 

(chiefly biography and character, from the sources). New 

York: Macmillan. (In preparation.) 
Capes, Age of the Antonines. New York : Scribners. ($1.00.) 
How and Leigh, History of Rome. New York : Longmans. 

($2.00.) 
Ihne, Early Rome. New York : Scribners. ($1.00.) 
YAt^^ri, Atlas Antiquns. Boston: Sanborn. ($2.00.) 
Lanciani, Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome. Boston : 

Houghton, Mifflin. ($4.00.) 
M2.c\i2Li\, Latin Literature. New York : Scribners. ($1.25.) 
M-trivdilt, Rojnan Triinnvirates. New York : Scribners. ($1.00.) 
Mommsen, History of Rome, 5 vols. Scribners. ($10.00.) 
Pellison, Roma?i Life in Pliny''s Time. Meadville, Penn. : Flood 

and Vincent. ($1.00.) 
Pelham, Outlines of Ro7nan History. New York : Putnanis. 

($i-75-) 
SmiXh, Ro?ne and Carthage. New York : Scribners. ($1.00.) 

Tozer, Classical Geography (primer) . New York : American 

Book Co. ($.35.) 

IL A Good Library 

FIFTY VOLUMES 

The books named above, and in addition, — 

Livy, History of Rome, translated by Spillan (Bohn), 4 vols. 

New York : Macmillan. ($4.00.) 
Plutarch, Lives, translated by Stewart and Long (Bohn), 4 vols. 

New York : Macmillan. ($4.00.) 



3/6 Helps 

Tacitus, Atmals, translated by Church and Brodribb. New 

York: Macmillan. ($2.00.) 
C2i.Y»es, Early Empire. JNewYork: Scribners. ($1.00.) 
Duruy, History of Rome^ 8 vols. Boston : Jewett. 
Fling, Greek and Roman Civilization (selections from the sources, 

with questions). Lincoln, Neb. : Miller. 
Fowler, G^j^r (Heroes). New York : Putnams. ($1.50.) 
Ihne, History of Rome., 5 vols. New York : Longmans. 
M2i\x, Pompeii, its Life a?id Art. New York : Macmillan. ($6.00.) 
Preston and Dodge, Private Life of the Romans. Boston : 

Sanborn. ($1.00.) 
Shuckburgh, ///j'/^'ry (9/"7?^;//^. New York : Macmillan. ($1.75.) 
Strachan-Davidson, Cicero (Heroes). New York : Putnams. 

($1.50.) 
TYiOm?LS, Rof nan Life tutder the CcBsars. Putnams. ($1.75.) 



HL A Larger Library 

A HUNDRED VOLUMES 

The books named above, and in addition,— 

Appian, Rojnan History, translated by White, 2 vols. New 
York: Macmillan. ($3.00.) 

Augustus, Deeds {]Monu7iientiun Ancyrannni), translated by 
Fairley, in Translations and Reprints from the Original 
Sources of European History, V. University of Pennsylvania. 

Caesar, Commentaries, translated (Bohn). New York: Mac- 
millan. ($1.00.) 

Cicero, Republic, edited and translated by Hardingham. London : 
Quaritch . 

Horace, Works, translated by Martin, 2 vols. New York : 
Scribners. ($8.40.) Odes, translated by Gladstone (verse). 
New York : Scribners. ($1.50.) 

Juvenal. Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius, Satires, translated by 
Evans and Gifford (Bohn). New York : Macmillan. ($1.00.) 

Polybius, Histories, translated by Shuckburgh, 2 vols. Mac- 
millan. ($6.00.) 

Sallust, Florus, and Velleius Paterculus, translated by Watson 
(Bohn). Macmillan. ($1.00.) 



Bibliography 377 

Suetonius, Lives of the Ccs^ars, translated by Thomas, revised by 
Forester (Bohn). Macmillan. ($1.50.) 

TacituSj Histories, translated by Church and Brodribb. Mac- 
millan. ($1.60.) 

Vergil, ^iieid, translated by Crane (verse). New York : Baker, 
Taylor. ($1.75-) 

^ec]<Ltr, Callus. New York : Longmans. ($1.25.) 

Botsford, Composition of the Roman Assefnblies (a paper in 
preparation). 

Bulwer, Last Days of Pompeii (a novel). Boston: Little, 
Brown & Co. ($1.25.) 

Bury, Studenfs Roman E?npire. New York : American Book 
Co. ($1.50.) 

Church, Roman Life in the Days of Cicero. New York : Mac- 
millan. ($.50.) 

Davis, A Friend of Ccesar (a novel). New York: Macmillan. 
($1.50.) 

Fowler, City-state of the Greeks and Romans. New York : 
Macmillan. ($1.00.) 

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire., edited by Bury, 
7 vols. New York : Macmillan. ($14.00.) 

Granger, The Worship of the Romans viewed in Relation to the 
Romati Tejnperament. London : Methuen. 

Gregorovius, Emperor Hadrian. New York : Macmillan. 
($4.00.) 

Guhl and Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans. New York : 
Scribners. ($2.75.) 

Hatch, Organization of the Early CJiristian Churches. Oxford 
and Cambridge : Rivingtons. 

Hill, Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins. New York : Mac- 
millan. ($2.25.) 

Inge, Society in Rome tnider the Ccssars. New York : Scribners. 
($1.25.) 

Kiepert, Manual of Ancient Geography. New York : Mac- 
millan. ($1.50.) 

Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire, 6 vols. 
New York : Appletons. ($12.00.) 

Morris, //rt;/;//^<«/ (Heroes). New York : Scribners. ($1.50.) 

Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire before lyo A.D, 
New York : Putnams. ($3.00.) 



3/8 Helps 

Schreiber. Atlas of Classical Antiquities . New York : Alac- 

milJan. ($6.50.) 
Seeley, Rofnan I?nperialism. Boston : Little, Brown & Co. 

($1.00.) 
Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis (a novel). Boston : Little, Brown & 

Co. ($1.50.) 
TaNlor, Cojistitutional and Political History of Rome from 

the Earliest Times to the Reign of Domitian. London : 

Methuen. 
Wickhoff. Roinan Art : Some of its Principles and their Appli- 

catio7i to Early Christian Painting. New York : Macmillan. 

($8.00.) 

IV 

The following books also are valuable : — 

Cicero, Letters^ translated by Shuckburgh, 4 vols. (Bohn). New 

York : Macmillan. ($6.00.) 
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INDEX 



Aa'chen, 330. 

Ac'ti-um, battle of, 198. 

Ad-her'bal, 100, loi. 

^-bu'ti-us, 38, 39. 

^'diles, plebeian, 74 ; curvile, 86, 

139. 
^-ga'ti-an Islands, battle of the, 102. 
/E-mil'i-us (father), no; (son), 121, 

147. 
^-ne'as, 17. 
^-ne'id, 215. 
^■E'qui-ans, 40, 42. 
uEs-cu-la'pi-us, 92, 226, 342. 
^'sis River, 64. 
A-e'ti-us, 303, 306. 
Af'ri-ca, province of, 126, 130. 
A-gath'o-cles, 97. 
Agrarian law of Spurius Cassius, 75 ; 

of Licinius and Sextius, 84-86; of 

Tiberius Gracchus, 152. 
A-gric'o-la, 238. 
Ag-ri-gen'tum, 99. 
A-grip'pa, 198, 213, 216. 
A-grip-pi'na, 227. 
A-ha'la, Ser-vil'i-us, 82. 
A'lans, 302. 
AKa-ric, 298-301. 
Al'ba Lon'ga, 6, 18, 20. 
Alban Lake, 6, 43. 
Alban Mount, 6. 
Al-bi'nus, 269. 
Al'boin, 319. 
Al-e-man'ni, 274, 290. 
Al-ex-an'der, king of the Molossians, 

53; the Great, 57, 116; Severus, 

271-273. 
Al-ex-an'dri-a, 189. 
Al'gi-dus Mount, 41 ; battle of, 42. 
Al'li-a River, battle of the, 43. 
Allies, Latin and Italian, 63; naval, 

55. 63. 



Alps as a defence, 2 ; Hannibal cross- 
ing, 105. 

Amphitheatre, 235, 268, 347. 

A-mu'li-us, 18. 

Amusements, 345-348, 

An-chi'ses, 17. 

An'cus Mar'ti-us, 20, 29. 

An'gleSj 311 ; in Britain, 321. 

An'i-o River, 7, 73. 

Annals, early, 147, 200; of Tacitus, 256. 

An'ni-us, 52. 

An'ti-as, Va-le'ri-us, 200. 

An-ti'o-chus III, 116, 118. 

An'ti-um, 42, 48. 

An-to-ni'nus, Mar'cus Au-re'li-us, 
254-256,264; Pius, 254. 

An'to-ny, Mark, 188, 195-198. 

Ap'en-nines Mountains, 14. 

Aph-ro-di'te, 92. 

A-pol'lo, 12, 13, 31, 92. 

Ap-ol-lo'ni-a, 196. 

Ap'pi-an, 260. 

Appian Way, 57, 90. 

Ap'pi-us Clau'di-us, see Claudius. 

A-pu'li-a, 55, 59. 

Aq'uae Sex'ti-ae, battle of, 162. 

Aqueducts, Appian, 90; Claudian, 
227 ; destruction of, 315. 

Aq-ui-lei'a, 308. 

A-ra'bi-a, 246 ; converted to Moham- 
medanism, 326. 

Ar-ca'di-us, 291. 

Ar-chi-da'mus, 52, 53. 

Ar-chi-me'des, 112. 

Architecture, 148, 348; Augustan, 
211-214; decline, 284. 

A'ri-ans, 283, 291, 312, 324. 

A-rim'i-num, 108. 

A-ri-o-vis'tus, 184. 

Aristocracy, aristocrats, see Nobles. 

A-ri'us, or A'ri-us, 283, 



383 



384 



Index 



Ar-me'ni-a, 205 ; a province, 247. 

Ar-min'i-us, 208. 

Armor of the cavalry, 39, 47 ; of the 
manipular legion, 46. 

Army, primitive, 33 ; of Servius, 33, 
71 ; reorganized by Caniillus, 45-48 ; 
by Marius, 162 ; by Hadrian ; 251 ; 
Carthaginian, 97 ; in politics, 168, 
178 ; under empire, 219, 233, 276- 
278. 

Ar'nus River, 109. 

Ar-pi'num, 160, 180. 

Ar-re'ti-um, 108, 109. 

Ar'ri-an, 260. 

Ar-sa'ci-dae, 271. 

Art, lack of early, 91, 148; Augustan, 
211-214 ; character of Roman, 348. 

Ar-tax-erx'es, 272. 

A'ry-ans, 2, 293. 

As-ca'ni-us, 18. 

As'cu-lum, battle of, 62. 

A'si-a, province of, 127, 130; taxa- 
tion of, 157. 

Asia Minor, 116, 119; under Rome's 
protection, 120. 

Assemblies, see Comitia. 

Assembly-place, see Comitium. 

A'taulf, 292, 302, 

Ath-a-na'si-us, 283. 

Ath'ens, 76, 252. 

At'ri-um, 340. 

At'ti-la, 306-308. 

Au'fi-dus River, no. 

Augurs, auspices, 29, 71, 80, 88. 

Au-gus'tine, St., 300. 

Au-gus'tus, Oc-ta'vi-us, Oc-ta-vi-a'- 
nus, adopted by Caesar, 192, 196; 
at Apollonia, 196; a triumvir, 197; 
war with Antony, 198 ; made Au- 
gustus by the senate, 199 ; reign of, 
204-218 ; frontiers, 205-208 ; prov- 
inces, 208-210; constitution, 210; 
public works, 211-215; literature, 
215; succession, 217; death and 
character, 218. 

Au-re'li-an, 274. 

Aus-tra'si-a, 325. 

Av'en-tine Mount, 33, 36. 

, Bab-y-lo'ni-a, 15. 
Bac'chus, 148. 



Barbarians of the hills, 40 ; invasions, 
274, 287, 289-310. 

Bar'ca, Ha-mil'car, 101-104. 

Ba-sil'i-ca Por'ci-a, 148 ; Julia, 211 ; 
or Constantine, 284. 

Basques, 329. 

Bas-si-a'nus, " El-a-gab'a-lus," 270. 

Battle of, Lake Regillus,38 ; Mt. Algi- 
dus, 42; theAUia, 43; the Caudine 
Pass, 55 ; Sentinum,6o; Heraclea, 
61 ; Asculum,62; Beneventura,62; 
Mylae, 99; Eci.onius, 100; ^ga- 
tian Islands, 102; the Ticinus, 
107; the Trebia, 107; Lake Trasi- 
mene, 109; Cannae, no; the Me-' 
taurus, 114; Zaraa, 114; Cynos- 
cephalas, 117; Pydna, 121; Aquae 
Sextiae, 162; Vercellae, 162; Phar- 
salus, 188; Thapsus, 189; Munda, 
189; Philippi, 197; Actium, 198; 
Teutoberg Forest, 208 ; Strassburg, 
290; Pollentia, 299; Verona, 299; 
Chalons, 307 ; Poitiers, 326. 

Bel'gi-ans, 185. 

Bel-i-sa'ri-us, 315. 

Ben-e-ven'tum, battle of, 62. 

Bibliography, general, 374-381 ; spe- 
cial, see end of each chapter. 

Bi-thyn'i-a, 116, 122, 179, 258. 

Blan-di'na, 265. 

Bo-e'thi-us, 314. 

Bon'i-face, Count, governor of Africa, 

303. 

Books, 201. 

Bren'nus, 43. 

Brit'ain, 186; Roman conquest, 
226, 238 ; Anglo-Saxon conquest, 
321. 

Brotherhood, see Curia. 

Brut'ti-ans, 53, 133. 

Bru'tus, Lu'ci-us Ju'ni-us, 37; Mar- 
cus, 195, 197. 

Bur-gun'di-ans, Bur'gun-dy, 306, 311, 

325- 
Bur'rus, 228, 230. 
Bu-sen'to River, 301. 
By-zan'ti-um, see Constantinople. 

Cae'li-an Mount orlAWX, 20, 33. 

Cae're, 43, 48, 62. 

Cae'sar, a title of the emperor, 223; 



htdex 



385 



of the heir to the imperial office, 

• 278. 

Cae'sar, Ga'i-us, grandson of Augus- 
tus, 217 ; Gaius Caesar Caligula, 
222; Gaius Julius Caesar Octavi- 
anus, see Augustus; Lucius, grand- 
son of Augustus, 217 ; Lucius Ju- 
lius, 166; Gaius Julius, the dictator, 
182-195; his conquest of Gaul, 
184-186 ; his war against the re- 
public, 187-189; in Egypt, 189; 
his character, 190; his govern- 
ment, 191-194; his death, 195. 

Cal-e-do'ni-a, 238, 269. 

Calendar, 77 ; Caesar's, 194. 

Ca-lig'u-la, Gaius Caesar, 222. 

Ca-mil'lus, 42; his military reform, 

45-48. 

Cam-pa'ni-a, Etruscans in, 9, 36 ; fer- 
tility, 15,49; under Rome, 50, 51; 
in Second Samnite War, 54, 55; 
mercenaries of, 98 ; Vesuvius, 237. 

Cam'pus Mar'ti-us, place of assem- 
bly, 70, 155; buildings in, 213, 
214. 

Can'nae, battle of, no, 133, 135. 

Can-u-lei'us, Law of, 80. 

Capitol (Temple of the Capitoline 
Jupiter), 31, 32, 41, 52, 143, 211, 

234. 
Cap'i-to-line Mount, 21, 31, 32, 33, 

41, 44- 

Cap-pa-do'ci-a, 205. 

Cap'ri, Cap're-ae, 221. 

Cap'u-a, 49-51, 134; ally of Hanni- 
bal, III, 113. 

Car-a-cal'la, 270. 

Car'bo, 171. 

Car-o-lin'gi-ans, 325-332, 

Car-pa'thi-an Mountains, 245. 

Car'thage, relations with Latium, 36; 
treaties with Rome, 39, 51, 96, 103, 
115; and Pyrrhus, 62; compared 
with Rome, 97 ; wars with Rome, 
98-103, 105-115, 123-126; Mer- 
cenary War, 103 ; acquires a prov- 
ince in Spain, 104; a Roman col- 
ony, 158, 193 ; under Gaiseric, 304, 
306^ 

Car-vil'i-us, Spu'ri-us, 135, 

Cas'si-us, A-vid'i-us, 255 ; Gaius (the 
2C 



conspirator against Caesar), 194, 
197 ; Quintus, 188 ; Spurius, 40, 

74- 

Cas'tor and Pol'lux, Temple of, 39, 
211. 

Cat'i-line, 180-182. 

Ca'to, the Elder (Censor), urges the 
destruction of Carthage, 123 ; pub- 
lic career, 143-146 ; historian and 
orator, 147 ; his basilica, 148 ; the 
Younger, 189. 

Cat'u-lus, Ga'i-us Lu-ta'ti-us, 102, 
103 ; Quintus (colleague of Ma- 
rius), 162. 

Ca-tul'lus, 201. 

Cau'dine Pass or Forks, 55. 

Cavalry, see Knights. 

Celts, 59, 293 ; see Gauls. 

Cen'sors, Censorship, 81, 136, 137, 
138, 177, 227, 238, 248. 

Census, 34; see word above. 

Centuries in the army, 34, 69; in the 
assembly, see Comitia Centuriata. 

Cen-tu'ri-on, 51. 

Ce'res, 74. 

Char-le-magne', Charles the Great, 
328-332. 

Charles Mar-tel', 325-327. 

Children, 337. 

Chlo'rus, Con-stan'ti-us, 279, 281. 

Christians, Christianity, birth of 
Christ, 215 ; under Nero, 231 ; 
under the Good Emperors, 262- 
265; Church organization, 281; 
under Constantine, 281-283, 285 ; 
under Theodosius, 291 ; under the 
Carolingians, 327, 330, 331 ; con- 
version of the barbarians, 296, 303, 
311, 313, 322, 324. 

Chronology, see Events. 

Chry-sos'tom, John, 291, n. i. 

Cic'e-ro, public career, 180-184, 195, 
197; writings, 201. 

Ci-li'ci-a, a province, 178. 

Cim'bri and Teu'tons, 162. 

Ci-min'i-an Forest, 50, 58. 

Ciminian Hills, 43. 

Cin-cin-na'tus, 41. 

Cin'e-as, 61. 

Cin'na, 168, 171, 

Cir'cus Max'i-mus, 33, 346. 



386 



Index 



Cis-al'pine Gaul, 40, 105, 108, 126, 
140, 184, 258. 

Citizenship, granted freely to aliens, 
20, 21, 35, 36, 48, 129; later less 
freely, 135 ; without right to vote, 
48, 63 ; granted to Latin towns, 53 ; 
to Italians, 155, 157, 158, 165, 167; 
to provincials, 193, 209, 226, 259, 
270; grades of, 48, 63, 129. 

City-state, 6, 8, 129. 

Ci-vi'lis, 233. 

Civilization, Etruscan, 9; against 
barbarism, 40, 55 ; Graeco-Roman, 
258-262. 

Civil service, 252, 

Clau'di-us, Ap'pi-us Claudius, the 
Decemvir, 76-79 ; Appius Claudius 
Csecus, 57, 61, 90; Appius Clau- 
dius Caudex, 98 ; Publius Claudius, 
loi; Gains Claudius Nero, 114; 
Quintus Claudius, 141 ; Tiberius 
Claudius Drusus Nero, emperor 
after Caligula, 225-227 ; Marcus 
Aurelius Claudius, emperor in third 
century 274. 

Cle-o-pa'tra, 189, 198. 

Clients, 24, 39, 72, 75, 149, 344. 

Clo-a'ca Max'i-ma, 32. 

Clo'di-us, 184. 

Clo-til'da, 324. 

Clo'vis, 323. 

Clyde, Frith of, 238. 

Coinage, 77, 83, 90. 

Col'line Gate, battle of the, 171. 

Co-lo'ni, 262, 286, 

Colonies, 61, 142, 157; Latin, 48, 59, 
63 ; Roman, 48, 63. 

Colonization, Sabellian, 3; Greek, 
11-13; Phoenician, 95: under 
Caesar, 193; under Augustus, 211, 

Col-os-se'um, 235, 347. 

Com-i'ti-a (assembly), primitive, 3; 
importance of the Roman, 71 ; 
under Cassar, 192 ; under Tiberius, 
221 ; Curiata, 25, 71 ; Centuriata, 
69-71, 81, 88, 136, 140, 173; Tri- 
buta, 75, 79, 88, 135, 173. 

Com-i'ti-um (assembly-place), 25, 32. 

Com'men-ta-ries of Caesar, 191, 200. 

Com'mo-dus, 267. 

Commons, see Plebeians. 



Con-cor'di-a, Temple of, 87. 

Con'stans, 290. 

Con'stan-tine the Great, 281-285; 
Constantine, his son, 289, 290. 

Con-stan-ti-no'ple (By-zan'ti-um), 
283, 285, 317, 332-334. 

Con-stan'ti-u^ 290. 

Constitution, primitive Italian, 3 ; 
Roman under the kings, 24-27 ; 
early republican, 66-71; develop- 
ment before the Punic Wars, 72- 
94; during the Punic Wars, 135- 
140 ; under Sulla, 172-174 ; under 
Caesar, 191; early imperial, 209- 
211; under Diocletian and Con- 
stantine, 278-280, 285. 

Con'su-lar trib'unes, 80-82, 86. 

Con'suls, instituted, 37, 66; early 
functions, 66-68 ; in time of Punic 
Wars, 136 ; limited to Italy, 173 ; 
under Augustus, 211 ; under Tra- 
jan, 247. 

Co-per'ni-cus, 260. 

Cor-fin'i-um, 166. 

Cor'inth, destruction of, 123 ; a Ro- 
man colony, 193. 

Cor-ne'li-a, 152. 

Cor'si-ca, 9; with Sardinia, a prov- 
ince, 104, 130. 

Cor'vus, Alar'cus Va-le'ri-us, 52. 

Council of Elders, see Senate. 

Court for trial of extortion, 132 ; 
courts under Sulla, 173 ; the senate 
a court under the empire, 220; see 
Juries. 

Cras'sus, jMar'cus Li-cin'i-us, 177, 
183, 184, 187. 

Ctes'i-phon, 247. 

Cu'mae, 11-13, 31, 40, 49. 

Cu-ra'tor Re'i Pub'li-cae, 248. 

Cu'ri-a, 24 ; see Comitia Curiata. 

Cur'sor, Lu'ci-us Pa-pir'i-us, 56, 58. 

Cu'rule chair, 26, 67; offices, 67, Si, 
88 ; ex-magistrates, 138. 

Cyb'e-le, 148. 

Cy'clops, 28. 

Cyn-os-ceph'a-lae, battle of, 117. 

Da'ci-a, a province, 245. , 

Dacians, war with the, 238. 
Dag'o-bert, 325. 



hidex 



387 



Dan'ube River, 162, 206, 238, 274, 297. 

De-cem'virs, 76-79. 

De'ci-us, consul, 60; emperor, 274. 

Delations, 221. 

De-me'ter, 74. 

Den-ta'tus, Man'i-us, Cu'ri-us, 60, 
62, 92, 144. 

Di-a'na, 36. 

Dic-ta'tor, 38,41, 42, 52, 56, 58, 109; 
instituted, 68; disused, no, 158; 
revived by Sulla, 172; held by 
Caesar, 191. 

Di'o-ces-es, 279. 

Di-o-cle'ti-an, 211, 276, 278-280. 

Di-o-nys'i-us I of Syracuse, 97. 

Di-o-ny'sus, Bac'chus, 148, 

Do-mi'ti-a, 239. 

Do-mi'ti-an, 237-239, 242, 244. 

Drep'a-na, 100; battle of," loi. 

Dru'sus, son of Livia, 206 ; Marcus 
Livius, 165. 

Du-il'i-us, Ga'i-us, 99. 

Dy'arch-y, 179, 204-224 ; to mon- 
archy, 225-242. 

East (Orient), 54, 65, 233, 271, 274; 
condition of in 200 B.C., 116 ; Pom- 
pey in the, 179 ; for Eastern division 
of the empire, see Empire. 

Ec'no-mus, battle of, 100. 

Economic development of the early 
republic, 90; decay of provinces, 
131; of Italy, 134; of the empire, 
285. 

Education, 93, 235, 336. 

E-ge'ri-a, 28. 

Eg-na'ti-us, 59. 

E'gypt, alliance with Rome, 65, 116; 
Caesar in, 189; Antony in, 198; 
under a prefect, 205. 

El-a-gab'a-lus, 270. 

Elephants in war, 61, 100. 

Emperors, Julian, 204-224; Clau- 
dian, 225-231; Galba, Otho, and 
Vitellius, 231-233; Flavian, 232- 
242; Good, 243-266; from Corn- 
modus to Constantine, 267-281 ; 
from Constantine to 476 A.D., 289- 
293; from 476 to 800 A.D., 311- 

334. 
Empire, founding, 204-211; consti- 



tution, 209-211 ; dyarchy, 204-224 ; 
from dyarchy to monarchy, 225- 
242; limited monarchy, 243-266; 
growth of absolute monarchy, 267- 
288 ; from Constantine to the dis- 
solution of the West, 289-310; 
division into East and West, 189, 
258-261, 274, 278-281, 284, 291 ; 
East, 283, 291, 298, 315-319, 326, 
331-334 ; West, 290, 293, 303, 306, 
308, 309, 311, 330. 

En'ni-us, 146. 

E-pi'rus, 53, 61, 121. 

Erc'te Mount, loi. 

E'ryx Mount, 102. 

Es'qui-line Mount or Hill, 33. 

E-thi-o'pi-a, 205. 

E-tru'ri-a, resources of, 8, 15, 21 ; re- 
lations with Rome, 43, 49, 58, 59, 
60. 

Etruscans, civilization, 4, 8-10, 36; 
territory, 9; political condition, 9, 
42; relations with Rome, 20, 21, 32, 
40. 58. 

Eu-dox'i-a, 305. 

Eu-phra'tes River, 179, 247, 271. 

Events in chronological order, 366- 

374- 
Ex'arch of Ravenna, 316, 320 ; of 
Africa, 332. 

Fa'bi-us, master of horse of Papirius, 

consul, and censor, 56, 57, 58, 90; 

the " Cunctator," 109, 113; Pictor, 

146. 
Family, 22-24, 335-338. 
Faus-ti'na, 254. 
Faus-tin-i-a'nae, 254. 
Flac'cus, Ful'vi-us, 155. 
Fla'men, priest, 29, 68. 
Fla-min'i-an Way, 141, 212. 
Fla-min'i-us Ga'i-us, 108, 140. 
Flam-i-ni'nus, 117, 118. 
For'mi-oe, 62. 
Forth, Frith of, 238. 
Fo'rum, Roman, 19, 32 ; Julian, 211 ; 

Augustan, 212; Trajan's, 245. 
Franks, 290, 306, 311, 322-331. 
Freedmen, 344. 
Fre-gel'loe, 54. 
Funeral, 348. 



388 



Index 



Ga-bin'i-us, Law of, 178. 

Gai'ser-ic, Gen'ser-ic, 303-306. 

Ga'i-us Cae'sar, grandson of Augus- 
tus, 217 ; Gaius Caesar Caligula, 
222. 

Gal'ba, 231. 

Ga'len, 260. 

Ga-le'ri-us, 278, 281. 

Gal'la Pla-cid'i-a, 292, 303, 

Gauls, 40, 43, 48, 60, 65 ; in Rome, 
43-45 ; treaty with Rome, 53 ; mi- 
gration of, 59 ; join Hannibal, 108 ; 
conquest of Cisalpine Gaul, 105, 
126, 140; Transalpine Gaul, 184- 
186; adopt Roman civilization, 
186, 258. 

Ge-nu'ci-us, Law of, 88. 

Geor'gics, 216. 

Ger-man'i-cus, 208, 220. 

Germans, defeated by Marius, 162 ; 
by Caesar, 185 ; subdued by Dru- 
sus and Tiberius, 206-208 ; wars 
with Marcus Aurelius, 255, 262; 
invasions, 289-310; described by 
Tacitus, 294-296; new German 
states, 3 1 1-33 1. 

Gi-bral'tar, Strait of, 326. 

Glad'i-a-tors, 179, 235, 287, 346. 

Glau'ci-a, 163. 

Gods, 28, 91. 

Goths, 274, 291, 296; Visigoths, 297- 
302 ; Ostrogoths, 297, 298, 312- 

316^ 
Government, see Constitution. 
Governor, provincial, 130, 132 ; under 

Caesar, 193 ; under Claudius, 226 ; 

under Domitian, 238. 
Grac'chi, character of, 151, 159, 160, 

164; Tiberius, 152-154; Gaius, 

155-159- 

Graeco-Roman world, 260-262. 

Greece, conquest by Rome, 116-123; 
revolts to Mithridates, 170. 

Greeks, colonies in Italy, 11-13; in- 
fluence upon Rome, 17-19, 33, 36, 
47, 51. 74. 76, 83, 91, 146, 152, 199, 
260, 336 ; political relations with 
Rome, 61, III, 116-123, 170; in- 
fluence in the East, 179, 180, 259 ; 
literature, 260. 

Greg'o-ry the Great, 321. 



Ha'dri-an, 250-254. 

Ha-dri-a-no'ple, 298. 

Ha-mil'car Bar'ca, 101-104. 

Han'ni-bal, as a boy, 104; made 
commander, 105 ; crosses the Alps, 
105 ; invades Italy, 107 ; in the 
marshes, 109; at Cannae, no; 
marches upon Rome, 112; quits 
Italy, 114; defeated at Zama, 115; 
at the court of Antiochus III, 118 ; 
death, 120. 

Has'dru-bal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 
104; brother of Hannibal, 113. 

Hel'las, see Greece, Greeks. 

Helps to the study of Roman history, 
353-381. 

Hel-ve'ti-ans, 185. 

Hept'arch-y, 322. 

Her-a-cle'a, battle of, 61. 

Her-cu-la'ne-um, 237. 

Her-min'i-us, 39. 

Her'ni-cans, 40, 48. 

Hi'e-ro, the victor at Cumae, 474 B.C., 
40; an ally of Rome in the First 
Punic War, 98. 

Hir'ti-us, 196. 

History, historical literature, begin- 
nings of, 146; late republican, 200; 
early imperial, 240; under the Good 
Emperors, 256, 260. 

Ho-no'ri-us, 291, 299. 

Hor'ace, 216. 

Ho-ra'ti-us, consul, 79. 

Hor-ten'si-us, Law of, 88, 135, 174. 

House, 21, 148, 339-341. 

Huns, 297, 306-308. 

I-az'y-ges, 255. 

I-be'ri-ans, no. 

Il-lyr'i-ans, Il-lyr'i-cum, 121, 127, n. i, 
184. 

Im-per-a'tor, 192. 

In'di-a, 205, 247. 

In-ter-reg'num, In'ter-rex, 26. 

I-tal'ians, 1-8, 11, 54, 63; fall under 
Roman rule, 49-61 ; organization 
under Rome, 62-65, ^29, 133 ; de- 
sire representation, 135, 165; win 
the citizenship, 155, 157, 165, 166, 
169. 

I-tal'i-ca, 166. 



Index 



389 



It'a-ly, 2, 9, II, 17, 19, 33, 40, 50, 52, 
55' 59- 252 ; falls under Roman rule, 
49-61 ; Pyrrhus in, 61 ; organiza- 
tion under Rome, 62-65, 129, 133; 
under Caesar, 193 ; under Trajan, 
248; under Diocletian, 280; under 
Odoacer, 293, 309 ; conquered by 
Ostrogoths, 312-315 ; by Belisarius, 
315; by Lombards, 319-321. 

Ja-nic'u-lum Mount, 20, 29. 

Ja'nus, 28, 239. 

Je-ru'sa-lem, 180; destroyed, 233. 

Jews, 226; war with Rome, 233. 

John of Cap-pa-do'ci-a, 319. 

Ju-de'a, conquered by Pompey, 179 ; 
under a procurator, 205; revolt of, 
233 ; birthplace of Christianity. 262. 

Ju-gur'tha, 161. 

Ju'li-a, wife of Marius, 161 ; daughter 
of Augustus, 216, 218. 

Julian Emperors, 204-224. 

Ju'li-an, the " Apostate," 290. 

Ju-li-a'nus, Did'i-us, 268 ; Salvius, 
258. 

Ju'no, 17, 24, 28, 43, 44, 108. 

Ju'pi-ter, 18, 25, 28, 29, 80, 285 ; Tem- 
ple of, 31, 32, 51, 52, 143, 234. 

Juries, judges, in regal period, 26, 
27; early republican, 68; com- 
posed of knights, 156, 165 ; re- 
stored to the senators, 173 ; later 
arrangement, 177. 

Ju-ris-pru'dence, 258, 269, 318. 

Jurists, Salvius Julianus, 258 ; Pa- 
pinian, 269; Ulpian, 270, 271 ; Tri- 
bonian, 318. 

Jus'tin, 315. 

Jus-tin'i-an, 315-319. 

Jutes, 321. 

Ju've-nal, 257. 

Kings, period of, 17-37 ; powers and 
functions, 26; German, 293. 

Knights, primitive, 24; arms, 39, 46; 
in the comitia centuriata, 70, 140; 
capitalists, 132, 140; separation 
from senators, 141, 156; in the im- 
perial service, 227, 235, 252 ; dis- 
used as cavalry, 163. 

Ko'ran, 325. 



Lac-e-dae'mon, 52. 

Land, public, 84, 86, 152. 

La-nu'vi-um, 108. 

La'res, 22. 

Latin colony, 48. 

Latin League, 6,38, 40; dissolved, 

53- 
Lat'ins, 4, 6-8, 17; allies of Rome, 
29, 36, 40, 48 ; demand representa- 
tion, 52; their league dissolved, 
53 ; organization under Rome, 53, 

63. 

La'ti-um, 4, 6-8 ; see word above. 

Lau-ren'tum, 53. 

La-vin'i-a, 17. 

La-vin'i-um, 17. 

Law, codification by the decemvirs, 
76-79; by Justinian, 317; Civil, 
258, 318. 

Law of Spurius Cassius, 75 ; of Pub- 
lilius Volero, 75 ; laws of the Twelve 
Tables, 76-79 ; of Valerius and Ho- 
ratius, 79; law of Canuleius, 80; 
laws of Licinius and Sextius, 86 ; 
law of Genucius, 88 ; of Publilius 
Philo, 88 ; of Hortensius, 88, 135;. 
174; of Flaminius, 140; of Tiberius 
Gracchus, 152; laws of Gaius Grac- 
chus, 156-159; law of Varius, 166; 
of Gabinius, 178 ; of Manilius, 179; 
municipal law of Caesar, 194. 

I^eague, Latin, see Latins; ^^lltolian, 
116; Achaean, 116, 120, 122; Ital- 
ian, 63, 130, 132. 

Le-ga'ti, 209. 

Legion, 34, 46-48, 117,251; reformed 
by Marius, 163. 

Le'o, bishop of Rome, 305, 308; the 
Isaurian, 332. 

Lep'i-dus, consul in 78 B.C., 176 ; the 
triumvir, 197. 

Libraries, 201. 

Lib'y-a, Lib'y-ans, 100, 103. 

Li-cin'i-an-Sex'ti-an Laws, 82-87. 

Li-cin'i-us, tribune, 85 ; emperor, 
281. 

Lic'tors, 27, 38, 67, 71. 

Li-gu'ri-ans, 13, n. i, 114, 126. 

Ivil-y-bae'um, 100. 

Li'ris River, 50. 

Literature, lack of, in the early re- 



390 



Index 



public, 91 ; beginnings, 146 ; late 
republican, 199-202; imperial, 215, 
239-242, 256-260. 

Liv'i-a, 206, 218. ^ 

Liv'y, 215. 

Lom'bards, 319-321. 

Lu'can, 240. 

Lu-ca'ni-a, Lu-ca'ni-ans, 49, 53, 55, 
60. 

Lu'ci-an, 260. 

Lu'ei-us Cae'sar, grandson of Augus- 
tus, 217. 

Lu-cre'ti-a, 22, 37. 

Lu-cre'ti-us, 201. 

Lu-cul'lus, 179. 

Lu'cu-mo, 29. 

Ly'ons, Lug-du'num, 226, 264. 

Mac-e-do'ni-a, 65 ; wars with Rome, 

III, 116-118, 120-122; a province, 

123. 
Ma-cri'nus, 270. 
Mae-ce'nas, 215. 
Mse'li-us, Spu'ri-us, 82. 
Mag'na Grae'ci-a, 11-13; falls under 

Roman rule, 61. 
Mag-ne'si-a, battle of, 119. 
Ma'go, brother of Hannibal, 108. 
Ma-har'bal, iii. 
Mam'er-tines, 98. 
Ma-mil'i-us, 39. 
Ma-nil'i-us, 179. 
Man'li-us, Mar'cus, 85. 
Mar-cel'lus, a general, 112, 113; a 

nephew of Augustus, 216. 
Mar'ci-a, 268. 
Mar-co-man'ni, 255, 262. 
Ma'ri-us, Ga'i-us, 160-165, ^68 ; his 

son of same name, 171. 
Market-place, see Forum. 
Marriage, 22, 336. 
Mars, 3, 18, 28; the Avenger, 212. 
Mar'si-ans, 4. 
Mar-tel', Charles, 325, 327. 
Mar'ti-al, 242. 
Mas-i-nis'sa, 113, 123, 161. 
Max-im'i-an, 278. 
Max'i-mus, emperor, 305 ; Quintus 

Fabius, 109, 135 ; Valerius, 240. 
Mayor of the Palace, 325. 
Mec'ca, 325. 



Me-di'na', 325. 

Mercenaries of Carthage, 97, 103. 

Mer-o-vin'gi-ans, 324. 

Mes-sa'na, 98. 

Mes-sa'pi-ans, 15. 

Me-tau'rus River, battle of the, 114. 

Me-tel'lus, Cae-cil'i-us, (i) victor at 
Panormus, 100; (2) who made 
Macedonia a province, 123 ; 
(3) who fought against Jugurtha, 
161. 

Mi-lan', Edict of, 282; capital of the 
West, 284. 

Military system, primitive, 33 ; of 
Servius, 33-35 ; of Camillus, 45-48 ; 
reformed by Marius, 162; by 
Hadrian, 251; roads, 57, 59, 63, 
64, 90 ; military tribunes with con- 
sular power, 80 ; from plutocracy 
to militarism, 151-174; military 
power in conflict with the repub- 
lic, 175-203. 

Mi-ner'va, 28. 

Mi-nu'ci-an Bridge, 212. 

Mi-nu'ci-us, 41. 

Mith-ri-da'tes, 167, 169, 179. 

Moe'si-a, 206, 298. 

Mo-ham'med, 325. 

Mo-ham'me-dans, Moslems, 325- 

327> 332. 

Mo-los'si-ans, 53. 

Mon'arch-y, early, 17-37 \ of Caesar, 
194; from dyarchy to, 225-242; 
limited, 243-266; growth of abso- 
lute, 267-288. 

Morals, early, 22; in the best period, 
92; decline, 149; under the em- 
pire, 214, 230, 338, 347 ; improved, 
211, 235, 337. 

Mul'vi-an Bridge, 212. 

Mum'mi-us, 123. 

Mun'da, battle of, 189. 

Mu-ni-cip'i-a, 48, 63, 90, 167, 194, 248, 
286.. 

Mu'ti-na, 196. 

My'lae, battle of, 99. 

Myth of ^neas, 17 ; of Romulus, 
18-20; of the Sabine women, 19; 
of Ancus Martius and Tullus Hos- 
tilius, 20; of Numa, 27; of the 
Tarquins and Servius TuUius, 29- 



Index 



391 



31 ; of the battle of Lake Regillus, 
38 ; of Cincinnatus, 41 ; of the 
Gauls and the senators, 43. 

Nae'vi-us, 146. 

Na'ples, 55, 74; Bay of, 49, 221. 

Nar-bo-nen'sis, 184. 

Nar'ses, 319. 

Na-si'ca, Scip'i-o, 154. 

Navy, Etruscan, 40; Roman, 57, 
100, 102; Carthaginian, 97 ; naval 
allies, 55, 63. 

Ne'pos, Cor-ne'li-us, 200. 

Ne'ro, emperor, 227-231 ; Gaius 
Claudius, 114. 

Ner'va, 243. 

Ner'vi-i, 185, 

Neus'tri-a, 325. 

New Car'thage, 113. 

Ni-cas'a, council of, 282. 

Ni'ger, 269. 

Nobles, 20, 24, 35, 37, 42, 46, 59, 66; 
hold the offices, 69; oppress the 
commons, 72 ;- alone know the 
laws, 77 ; ancestor-worship, 80, 
348 ; new nobility, 86-88 ; decline 
of, 138, 161; power broken, 159; 
restored, 168, 172; relations with 
Pompey, 187; with Octavianus, 
196; under Vespasian, 234; under 
Diocletian, 280; see Senate. 

Nor'i-cum, 206. 

Nu'ma, 22, 27. 

Nu-man'ti-a, 126. 

Nu-mid'i-ans, 115, 161. 

Nu'mi-tor, 18. 

Oc-ta'vi-a, 197. 

Oc-ta'vi-us, colleague of Ti. Grac- 
chus, 153 ; of Cinna, 168 ; Octa- 
vianus, see Augustus. 

Od-o-a'cer, 292, 309. 

0-lym-pi-e'um, 252. 

0-pim'i-us, 158. 

Oratory, in Cato's time, 147 ; late re- 
publican, 201 ; imperial, 240, 258. 

O-res'tes, 292. 

Os'ti-a, 20, 227. 

Os'tro-goths, 297, 298; in Italy, 312- 

315- 
O'tho, 232. 



Outline, example of a, 353-358. 
Ov'id, 218, 239. 

Pae-lig'ni-ans, 166. 
Painting, 148, 349. 
Pal'a-tine Mount or Hill, 8, 18, 20, 

33 ; early life on, 21 ; residence of 

the emperors, 214. 
Pan, 15. 

Pan-no'ni-a, 206, 319. 
Pa-nor'mus, loi ; battle of, 100. 
Pan'sa, 196. 
Pan-the'on, 212. 
Pa-pin 'i-an, 269. 
Pa-pir'i-us, 45. 
Par'thi-an Empire, 180, 205; at war 

with Rome, 246, 255 ; overthrown 

by Persians, 271. 
Pa-ter'cu-lus, Vel-lei'us, 240. 
Pa-tri'ci-ans, see Nobles. 
Patrimony of St. Peter, 321, 328. 
Pa'trum Auc-tor'i-tas, 25, 88; see 

Senate. 
Paul, St., 231, 262. 
Pau'lus, Lu'ci-us ^-mil'i-us, see 

^milius. 
Pau-sa'ni-as, 260. 
Pa'vi-a, 319. 

Peasants, 35, 134-, 149, 155, 262. 
Pe-na'tes, 22. 
People, see Commons. 
Per'ga-mum, 116. 
Per'i-style, 340. 
Perpetual Edict, 258. 
Per'seus, 120-122. 
Per'si-an Gulf, 247 ; empire, 271-273, 

316, 332. 
Per'si-us, 240. 
Per'ti-nax, 268. 
Pestilence in the reign of Marcus 

Aurelius, 255. 
Peter, St., 262. 
Pe-tro'ni-us, 241. 
Pha'lanx, Servian, 33, 38, 41, 46; 

Macedonian, 61, 117, 121; im- 
perial, 251. 
Phar'na-ces, 189. 
Phar-sa'li-a, 240. 
Phar-sa'lus, battle of, 189. 
Philip V of Macedonia, iii, ii6. 
Philippics of Cicero, 196. 



392 



Index 



Phi'lo, Pub-lil'i-us, 55, 56, 88. 

Philosophy, 228, 241. 

PhcE-ni'ci-ans, 95, 

Pi-cen'ti-ans, 4. 

Pi-ce'num, 108. 

Pic'tor, Fa'bi-us, 146. 

Picts, 321. 

Pillars of Her'cu-les, 127. 

Pip 'pin, 327. 

Pirates, 177, 178, 305. 

Pi-sis'tra-tus, 252. 

Plau'tus, 146. 

Ple-bei'ans, Commons, Etruscan, 9, 
59 ; Roman, 24, 37, 42, 159 ; win 
equality with the patricians, 61-94; 
secession, 73, 78 ; organization, 73- 
75 ; intermarry with patricians, 80 ; 
admitted to office, 80-88 ; country 
plebs and city plebs, 75, 89, 163, 
164, 165 ; country plebs become an 
aristocracy, 90. 

Plin'y the Elder, 241 ; the Younger, 
248, 258. 

Plo-ti'na, 250. 

Plu'tarch, 260. 

Plu-toc'ra-cy, growth of, 129-150; 
nobles are plutocrats, 139; from 
plutocracy to militarism, 151-174. 

Po River, 9, 59; valley of the, 40. 

Poetr}', early, 146; late republican, 
201 ; under the empire, 215, 240. 

Poitiers (pronounced pwa-te-a'), bat- 
tle of, 326. 

Po-lyb'i-u5, 122, 147. 

Pom-pei'i, destruction of, 237. 

Pom'pey, Gnae'us, early career, 175 ; 
and Crassus, 177; against the 
pirates, 178, commands in the 
East, 179; returns to Rome, 183; 
sole consul, 187 ; conflict with 
Caesar, 187-189; death, 189. 

Pon'tiffs, 29, 60, 68, 88. 

Pon'ti-us, earlier Samnite leader, 55 ; 
leader in time of Sulla, 171. 

Pon'tus, 116, 179, 205. 

Pope, 285 ; succeeds the emperor, 
309 ; temporal power, 320, 328 ; 
and Charlemagne, 331, attitude 
toward image-breaking, 333. 

Por'ta Mu-go'ni-a, Gate of Bellow- 
ing, 21. 



Por'ta Ro-man'u-la, 21. 

Pos-tu'mi-us, victor at Mt. Algidus, 
42. 

Prae-fec'tus Urb'is, city-warden, 68. 

Prae-nes'te, 6, 53. 57, 63, 171. 

Praetor, x,-], 86, 130, 173; under the 
empire, 211. 

Pre'fect, 48, 53, 63 ; imperial, 205, 
252, n. 2. 

Pre'fec-ture, 48, 63, 279. 

Pre-to'ri-an Guard, 221, 223, 225, 232, 
268 ; prefect, 253, 269. 

Priest, see Flamen. 

Private life, 22, 335-348. 

Pro'con-sul, 55, 130. 

Pro-co'pi-us, 316, n. i. 

Proc-u-ra'tor, 205, 209. 

Pro-pras'tor, 130, 209. 

Pro\"ince of Sicily, 103 ; Sardinia, 
and Corsica, 104; Macedonia, 123; 
Africa, 126; Spain, 126; Bithynia, 
179; Syria, 179; Dacia, 245; Ar- 
menia, 247. 

Provinces, administration of, 130-133 ; 
in time of Gains Gracchus, 157; 
under Caesar, 192; under Augustus, 
205, 208-210; under Seneca, 229; 
under Trajan, 249 ; under Hadrian, 
252 ; under Diocletian, 279 ; Ro- 
manized, 258. 

Ptol'e-my, king of Eg}-pt, 189; as- 
tronomer, 260, 

Pub'li-cans, 132, 157, 193. 

Pyd'na, battle of, 121. 

P\T'rhxis, 61. 

Quaes tors, treasurers, 68, 75, 79, 82, 

131. '^IZ- 

Quin-til'i-an, 235, 241. 
Qui-ri'nal Hill, 19, 20, 21, 33. 

Rabble of Rome, 159, 163, 164. 165, 

221. 
Races of Italy, 2-13. 
Ra-cil'i-a, 4. 
Rse'ti-a, 206. 

Re-gil'lus, Lake, battle of, 38. 
Reg'u-lus, 100. 
Religion, Etruscan, g; Greek, ii', 

Roman, 21, 22, 23, 27-29, 31, 68; 

foreign, 148 ; under the empire, 



Index 



393 



211, 214, 231, 262-265,281-285 ; see 
Christians. 

Re'mus, 18. 

Republic,'"founding, 37, 66; first pe- 
riod, 38-94; second period, 95- 
150; third period, 151-203; end 
of, 202 ; republican offices under 
the empire, 211. 

Revolution fi-om republic to empire, 
151-203; from limited to absolute 
monarchy, 267-278. 

Rex Sa-cro'rum, 68. 

Rhe'a, 18. 

Rhe'gi-um, 97. 

Rhodes, 116. 

Rhone River, 105. 

Ric'i-mer, 292. 

Ro'land, 330. 

Ro-mance' languages, 330, n. i. 

Rome, founded, 7, 18 ; under kings, 
17-37 ; causes of greatness, 35 ; 
head of Latium, 36 ; becomes a re- 
public, 37, 66; alliance with Lat- 
ins and Hernicans, 40; sacked by 
the Gauls, 43; gains control of It- 
aly, 48-65; wars with Carthage, 
95-116, 123-126; with Macedonia, 
116-118, 120-122; under Caesar, 
189-195 ; beginning of the impe- 
rial government, 204 ; public works, 
of Augustus, 211-214; of Claudius, 
227; of Vespasian and Titus, 235; 
of Trajan, 245 ; of Constantine, 
284; great fire in, 230; sacked by 
the Goths, 300; by the Vandals, 
305; place in history, 348-351. 

Rom'u-lus, 18, 19, 27 ; " Augustulus," 
292. 

Rou-ma'ni-a, 246. 

Ru'bi-con River, 62; Cassar crosses, 
188. 

Ru-fi'nus, Pub'li-us Cor-ne'li-us, 92, 

Ru'ti-lus, Ga'i-us Mar'ci-us, 52. 

Sa-bel'li-ans, 2-6, 36, 166. 

Sa'bines, 4, 15, 19, 20, 40. 

Sacred Colleges, 29. 

Sacred Mount, 73, 79. 

Sacred Spring, 3. 

Sacred Way, Via Sacra, 41, 234, 236. 

Sa-gun'tum, 105. 



Sa'li-i, 29. 

Sal-i-na'tor, Mar'cus Liv'i-us, 114. 

Sal'lust, 200. 

Sam'nites, 4, 5, 49, 63; character, 
50; first war with Rome, 51; sec- 
ond war with Rome, 54-59 ; third 
war with Rome, 59-61 ; nearly ex- 
terminated, 171. 

Sam'ni-um, 4, 49, 50, 54, 55, 61 ; see 
word above. 

Sar'a-cens, 302, 3:25-327, 332. 

Sar-din'i-a, 9; and Corsica a prov- 
ince, 104; under Cato, 144. 

Sat'urn, 28, 68, 211. 

Sat-ur-ni'nus, tribune, 163-165; gov- 
ernor of Germany, 238, 

Sax'ons, 311 ; conquer Britain, 321. 

Scasv'o-la, Mu'ci-us, 152. 

Science, Roman, 241 ; Hellenic, 260. 

Scip'i-o, ^-mil-i-a'nus, 124, 127, 154; 
Gnaeus, 113; Publius (father), 107, 
113; Publius Scipio Africanus 
(son), 113, 114-116, 142. 

Sculpture, 349. 

Se-ja'nus, 221. 

Se-leu'ci-dae, 116; empire of the, 65. 

Sem-pro'ni-us, Ti-be'ri-us, 107. 

Senate, Sabellian, 3; Roman, 41, 43, 
50, 52, 55, 62, 66, 69, 73, 80, 86, 98, 
III ; pat7-um auctoritas, 25, 88 ; and 
the provinces, 130; powers of, 137 ; 
opposition to, 140 ; plays the dema- 
gogue, 159, 165 ; restored by Sulla, 
168, 172; under Caesar, 192; and 
Octavianus, 199 ; and the dyarchy, 
210; and Tiberius, 220; and Clau- 
dius, 227 ; and Vespasian, 234 ; and 
Domitian, 238 ; era of good feeling, 
243; mere city council, 252; and 
Septimius Severus, 269 ; and Alex- 
ander Severus, 271 ; affected by the 
military revolution, 274-278; send 
the imperial trappings to Constan- 
tinople, 293. 

Senate-house, 32, 61, 79; Pompcy's, 

195- 
Senators, excluded froni'commcrce, 

141 ; see Nobles and Senate. 
Sen'e-ca, 228, 230. 
Se-no'nes, 65. 
Serfs, Co-lo'ni, 262, 



394 



Index 



Ser-to'ri-us, 171, 176. 

Ser-vil'i-us, 108. 

Ser'vi-us Tul'li-us, 33-35, 40. 

Ses'ti-us, 76. 

Se'ti-a, 48. 

Seven Hills, 33, 36. 

Se-ve'rus, Sep-tim'i-us, 268-270 ; 
Alexander, 271-273. 

Sex'tus, 37. 

Sib'yl, 12, 31. 

Sic'i-ly, II, 33, 62; a province, 103; 
revolts to Hannibal, iii; slave 
wars in, 343. 

Si-cin'i-us, 78, 

Si-do' ni-us, 306. 

.Slaves, 60, 134, 341-344 ; join Spar- 
tacus, 177 ; protected, 226, 230. 

Social ranks, 24, 286; life, .344. 

Social War, 166. 

So'lon, 76. 

So'phi-a, St., 317. 

Spain, Hamilcar in, 104; conquered 
by Rome, 113,115, 126; two prov- 
inces in, 126, 130 ; Sertorius in, 171, 
176; Pompey proconsul of, 184; 
birthplace of Seneca, 229 ; of Tra- 
jan, 245 ; of Marcus Aurelius, 254 ; 
Romanized, 259; settled by Visi- 
goths, 302. 

Spar'ta-cus, 177. 

Spar' tans, 33, 52 ; Spartan kings, 66. 

Spu'ri-us Cas'si-us, 40, 74. 

Stil'i-cho, 299. 

Stoics, 228, 239. 

Strass'burg, battle of, 290. 

Studies in Roman history, 359-366. 

Sue-to'ni-us, 258. 

Sueves, 302. 

Sul'la, Lu'ci-us Cor-ne'li-us, 162, 168- 
174 ; proscriptions, 171 ; character 
of legislation, 173. , 

Sul-pi'ci-us, 168. 

Su'tri-um, 48. 

Sym'ma-chus, 314. 

Syr'a-cuse, 40, 77, 97 ; siege of, 112. 

Syr'i-a, 179, 205. 

Tac'i-tus, 256. 

Ta'ges, 9. 

Tan'a-quil, 29. 

Ta-ren'tum, 11, 53, 97, 134; war with 



Rome, 61 ; revolts to Hannibal, 
III, 113. 

Tar-quin'i-i, 29. 

Tar'quins, 29-37 \ their public works, 
32; TarquiniusCollatinus, 37 ; Lu- 
cius Tarquinius Priscus, 30; Tar- 
quinius Superbus, 31, 38, 39, 72. 

Tar-ra-ci'na, 4, 42. 

Tau'rus Mount, 119. 

Taxes, 64, 73, 81 ; of provinces, 132 ; 
imposed by Cato, 145 ; under Cae- 
sar, 192; under Vespasian, 235; 
under Trajan, 249; remitted by 
Hadrian, 253. 

Temple of Vesta and of the Sibyl at 
Tibur, 7 ; of the Capitoline Jupiter, 
31, 32, 52, 143, 211, 234; of Diana, 
36 ; of Castor and Pollux, 39, 211 ; 
of Concordia, 87 ; of Saturn, 68, 
211; of Mars the Avenger, 212; 
of Jehovah, 234. 

Ter'ence, 146. 

Ter-en-til'i-us, 76. 

Tet'ri-cus, 275. 

Teu'to-berg Forest, battle of the, 208. 

Thap'sus, battle of, 189. 

Theatre, Pompeian, 211; theatres, 

347- 
The-o-do'ra, 315. 
The-od'o-ric, king of the Visigoths, 

306; of the Ostrogoths, 312-315. 
The-o-do'si-us, 291, 298. 
Thes'sa-ly, 116, 189; cavalry of, 61. 
Thrace, 116. 
Thra'se-a, 229. 
Ti'ber River, 4, 7, 18, 20, 22, 36, 41, 

49. 
Ti-be'ri-us, emperor, 206-208, 217 ; 

reign of, 218-222 ; provinces under, 

220. 
Ti'bur, 7, 53, 63. 

Ti-ci'nus River, battle of the, 107. 
Ti'gris River, 247. 
Ti-mo'le-on, 97. 
Ti'tus, destroys Jerusalem, 233 ; Arch 

of, 235 ; reign of, 236. 
Ti'tus Ta'tius, 19. 
Tou-louse', 302. 
Tra'jan, 244-250; conquers Dacia, 

245; war in the East, 246; admin- 
istration, 247-249. 



Index 



395 



Trans-al'pine Gaul, 162; conquered, 
184-186 ; Romanized, 259. 

Tras'i-mene, Lake, battle of, 109, 133. 

Treason, law of, 218, 221, 227. 

Treasurers, see Quaestors. 

Treasury, 68. 

Treaty with the Latins, 36, 40, 53 ; 
with Alexander and the Gauls, 
53; with the Samnites, 52, 59, 60; 
of the Caudine Pass, 55 ; with 
Tarentum, 61 ; with Egypt, 65, 
116; with Carthage, 96, 103, 115; 
with Hiero, 98 ; between Philip V 
and Hannibal, iii; with ^tolia 
and Athens, 116; with Macedonia, 
118; with Antiochus III, 119; 
with Spanish tribes, 126; with 
Mithridates, 170 ; with the Dacians, 
238. 

Treb'i-a River, battle of the, 107. 

Tribes, three primitive, 24 ; later 
local, 34, 53, 57, 59, 73, 129; land- 
less enrolled in the, 90; of the 
hills, 40, » 

Tri-bo'ni-an, 318. 

Tribunes, military, 51, 52; military 
with consular power, 80, 86 ; of the 
plebs, 73, 75, 84, 85 ; increased 
power of, 79; usually nobles, 89; 
restricted by Sulla, 172; restored, 
177; under the empire, 211. 

Tri-clin'i-um, 340. 

Triumph, 41, 

Tri-um'vi-rate, First, 183-189; Sec- 
ond, 196-199. 

Tro'jans, 17, 

Troy, 17, 43. 

Tul'li-a, 31. 

Tul'lus Hos-til'i-us, 20. 

Tu-ra'ni-ans, 297. 

Turks, 284. 

Tus'cu-lum, 38, 39, 40, 48. 

Tyr-rhe'ni-an Sea, 8, 9. 

Ul'fi-las, 297, 
Ul'pi-an, 270, 271. 
Um'bri-a, 4, 6, 59, 60, 64. 
U'ti-ca, 124. 

Va'Iens, 291, 297. 
Val-en-tin'i-an I, 290; III, 292. 



Va-le'ri-an-Ho-ra'ti-an Laws, 79. 
Va-le'ri-an, emperor, 274. 
Va-le'ri-us, consul in 449 B.C., 79; 

Marcus Valerius Corvus, 52. 
Van'dals, 302-306, 315. 
Va'ri-an Law, 166. 
Var'ro, leader of the plebs, no, 141 ; 

Marcus Terentius, a scholar, 201. 
Va'rus, 208. 
Vei'i, 42, 43, 45, 47. 
Ven'e-ti, 185. 
Ven'ice, 308, 
Ve'nus, 17, 28, 92. 
Ve-nu'si-a, 61, no. 
Ver-cel'las, battle of, 162. 
Ver'gil, 215. 
Ve'rus, Lu'ci-us, 254. 
Ves-pa'si-an, 232-235. 
Ves'ta, 22, 29, 39. 
Ves'tal Virgin, 18, 29, 43,68. 
Ve-su'vi-us, 221, 237. 
Veto, 66, 79, 89, 153. 
Vi'a Sa'cra, Sacred Way, 41, 234, 

236. 
Vice-ge'rent, 279. 
Vim'i-nal Hill, 33. 
Vin-de-li'ci-a, 207. 
Vir-gin'i-a, 78. 
Vis'i-goths, 297-302 ; sack Rome, 

300. 
Vi-tel'li-us, 232. 
Vo-le'ro, Pub-lil'i-us, 75. 
Vol'sci-ans, 40, 42, 48. 
Vul'can, 28. 

Wall of Servius, 33 ; of Hadrian, 
251; of Aurelian, 274. 

War with the ^quians and Vol- 
scians, 40-42; with Veil, 42; First 
Samnite, 51; Latin, 53; Second 
Samnite, 54-59 ; Third Samnite, 
59-61; with Tarentum, 61; First 
Punic, 98-103 ; Mercenary, 103 ; 
Second Punic, 105-115; First 
Macedonian, in, 116; Second 
Macedonian, 116-118; Asiatic, 
1 18-120; Third Macedonian, 120- 
122; Third Punic, 123-126; Ligu- 
rian, Gallic, and Spanish wars, 126 ; 
Jugurthine War, 161 ; war with the 
Cimbri and Teutons, 162; Social 



396 



Index 



War, i66; war with Mithridates, 
170, 179; between Sulla and the 
democrats, 171, 175; with Ser- 
torius, 176 ; with Spartacus, 177 ; 
with the Gauls, 184-186; with 
Parthia, 187, 246, 255; between 
Caesar and Pompey, 188 ; between 
the triumvirs and the republic, 197 ; 
between Antony and Octavianus, 
198 ; with the Jews, 233 ; with the 
Dacians, 238, 245 ; with the Marco- 
manni, 255 ; with the Caledonians, 



269; with Persia, 272, 316, 332; 

with the Mohammedans, 326, 332. 
Wit'i-gis, 315. 
vVomen, 23, 37, 113, 337; Sabine, 

19. 

Xan-thip'pus, 100. 

Za-leu'cus, 76. 
Za'ma, battle of, 114. 
Ze-no'bi-a, 274. 
Zor-o-as'ter, 272. 



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